Following a temporary pause on in-person service, such as in-person hearings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SSA will soon restart in-person hearings on a limited basis. When SSA resumes these limited in-person hearings, we will ask participating members of the public to complete a brief COVID-19 symptoms screener questionnaire within 24 hours of their hearings.
Background
During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, SSA conducted its services almost exclusively online or by telephone, to protect the health of both the public and our employees. We took these measures in accordance with relevant Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 pandemic guidance, and to comply with existing Occupational Safety and Health Act provisions regarding workplace safety.
While in-person hearings have not been available since March 2020, claimants or their appointed representatives who wished to appeal a redetermination could choose to participate in an online video hearing or phone hearing instead. We would like to soon resume in-person hearings on a limited-capacity basis. Initially, we plan to keep the number of in person hearings to an average of three separate hearings per hearings office per day, to ensure the continued health and safety of the public and SSA employees. The number of in-person hearings per hearing office may be revised over the course of reentry.
Need for Information Collection; Collection Methodology; How Information Will Be Used
Because of COVID-19 health and safety considerations, we plan to require all members of the public entering an SSA hearing office to participate in an in-person hearing to complete a brief screener questionnaire designed to identify COVID-19 symptoms. A link to the questionnaire will be provided in the mailed notice of scheduled hearings. People participating in a hearing can complete and submit the questionnaire online within 24 hours before the start of the hearing. If hearings participants do not wish to use the Internet, they can call the hearings office where the hearing is scheduled and complete the questionnaire over the phone.
The questionnaire will ask questions relating to personal experience of any COVID symptoms; exposure to someone diagnosed with COVID; or travel by means other than land travel, such as car, bus, ferry, or train. SSA will use the screener responses to determine if the in-person hearings participant is âclearedâ or ânot clearedâ to enter an SSA hearing office. If participants answer ânoâ to all questions, they are âclearedâ to participate. If they answer âyesâ to any part of the screener, they will be ânot cleared.â Persons who are not cleared may seek to be rescheduled for the next in-person hearing date that at least 14 days after the COVID-19 symptoms first presented, or 14 days after they tested positive for COVID-19.
Alternatives to Completing the Information Collection
Although completion of the questionnaire will be required for an in-person hearing, it is not required for other modalities of appeals hearings. One may choose an online video hearing or telephone hearing as an alternative to an in-person hearing. Claimants may obtain Social Security payments regardless of the hearing method they choose.
We are making Non-Substantive changes to this collection to align with reopening screening signage posted on our offices. We want all screening language to be consistent.
Advocacy groups representing the interests of Social Security claimants and professional organizations from the representative community have requested that we resume in-person hearings. To increase our level of service while maintaining the health and safety of the public and our employees, SSA needs the COVID-19 symptoms screener in place as soon as possible. The length of the standard PRA process would hinder our ability to increase our service. We are requesting emergency clearance with approval to be granted no later than December 12, 2021. We will invite the public to submit comments if they wish to do so. Given the nature of the ICR, it has been conveyed to us that PRA approval does not depend on resolution of or response to public comments.
We understand that an emergency PRA approval is effective for six months. If we need to continue using the screener after six months, we will seek full PRA approval, which would include two standard public comment periods.
US Code:
42 USC 405
Name of Law: Social Security Act
This new IC increases the public reporting burden. See the chart above for burden figures. The IC does not modify SSAâs existing programs in any way.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Justification for Non-Substantive Changes - 0824.docx
COVID Screener Questionnaire