Addendum to Supporting Statement 0277

Addendum to the Supporting Statement for Form HA-520

Request for Review of Hearing Decision/Order

20 CFR 404.967-404.981, 20 CFR 416.1467-416.1481

OMB 0960-0277

Background:

As the Social Security Administration (SSA) continues moving forward to process claims electronically, we have developed the ability for claimants and appointed representatives (A/R) to submit appeals and evidence electronically through the Internet. However, this online method for filing a Request for Review of the Hearing Decision/Order to the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO) is not available to the claimants or A/Rs at this time. Currently, claimants and A/Rs must complete a paper HA-520 (Request for Review of Hearing Decision/Order) and either mail or fax the request to OAO, or submit the Request for Review of the Hearing Decision/Order to their local SSA field office (FO). Therefore, the current process is inefficient and does not provide the ability to process appeals as efficiently as other claims processes, which currently offer this online service. Additionally, OAO currently does not currently have the capability to track the submission of a paper appeal or additional documents and evidence using the conventional methods mentioned above.

 

The development and implementation of this online functionality will provide the same online service for submitting appeals as SSA uses to process other parts of the claims process. Moreover, this new functionality will reduce or eliminate the number of undiscovered Request for Reviews; allow OAO to track the submission of the appeals; reduce the processing time by eliminating mail time; and, ultimately, provide better customer service to the claimant and the A/Rs.  

Description of the Revisions to the HA-520 Applications:

• Change #1: SSA made the following change to the iAppeals Applications: We developed screens and a systems functionality allowing the creation of Requests for Review of Hearing Decision/Order at the Appeals Council (A/C) level in the same manner as other appeal levels. We reference these screens and system as the i520.

Justification #1: As mentioned above, we believe the implementation of these new screens will reduce or eliminate the number of undiscovered Request for Reviews; allow OAO to track the submission of the appeals; reduce the processing time by eliminating mail time; and, ultimately, provide better customer service to the claimant and the A/Rs.

• Change #2: We increased our burden estimates for 0960-0277 to account for the new i520 screens. We show these increased burden estimates in the chart for #12 of the Supporting Statement.

Justification #2: We based these burden estimates on current usage for the paper HA-520 as well as the current usage for the other iAppeals applications (which we accounted for under their own OMB Control Numbers). We took all burden estimates from current management information data.

• Change #3: We are revising the Privacy Act Statement on the paper form. The new i520 screens will use the same Privacy Act Statement as the other iAppeals applications.

Justification #3: SSA’s Office of the General Counsel is conducting a systematic review of SSA’s Privacy Act Statements on agency forms. As a result, SSA is updating the Privacy Act Statement on the paper form.

SSA will implement these changes upon OMB approval.