This organizationally complex structure has contributed to a number of problems. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Social Security, Committee on Ways and Means, asked us to (1) assess SSA’s efforts to redesign its disability claims process and (2) identify any actions needed to better ensure future progress. In addition, problems with SSA’s approach to designing and managing its tests of new initiatives contributed to marginal and inconclusive test results and made it more difficult for SSA to discern how a tested initiative would operate if implemented on a widespread basis. Delays Continue Under Revised Plan

Even under its scaled-back plan, SSA continues to experience delays. Limited Progress Is Related to SSA’s Testing and Implementation Strategy

SSA’s difficulties in achieving appreciable improvements in its disability claims process have been caused, in part, by the scope of SSA’s revised plan and the agency’s strategy for testing its proposed process changes. While SSA could not have predicted the precise impact of not including a particular process change in its stand-alone tests, the agency understood from the outset of its redesign effort that proposed changes were closely linked and that they depended on each other—especially on computer supports—to dramatically improve the process. As SSA continues its redesign work, it has an opportunity to apply lessons learned from its 4 years of reengineering experience, as well as from other commonly accepted reengineering and management best practices. Once agreement is reached, SSA will need to test this mechanism. Prioritizing its key redesign objectives might help SSA to better focus its efforts. Recommendations

As SSA proceeds with further exploration and testing of redesign initiatives and considers implementation options, it should take the following steps to improve the likelihood of making key improvements to the disability claims process: further focus resources on those initiatives, such as process unification, quality assurance, and computer support systems, that offer the greatest potential for achieving SSA’s most critical redesign objectives; test promising concepts at a few sites in an integrated fashion; establish key supports and explore feasible alternatives before committing significant resources toward the testing of specific initiatives, such as the DCM; develop a comprehensive set of performance goals and measures to assess and monitor changes in the disability claims process; and ensure that quality assurance processes are in place that both monitor and promote the quality of disability decisions.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) efforts to redesign its disability claims process; and (2) identified actions that SSA could take to better ensure future progress.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) even with its scaled-back plan, SSA has been unable to keep its redesign activities on schedule and to demonstrate that its proposed changes will significantly improve the claims process; (2) the inability to keep on schedule was caused, in part, by SSA's overly ambitious plan and its strategy for testing proposed changes; (3) other problems with the design of its tests weakened SSA's ability to predict how the initiatives would operate if implemented; (4) the problems that led to SSA's redesign effort persist, and as SSA continues its efforts to improve the disability claims process the agency has an opportunity to learn from its experience and the best practices of other organizations with reengineering experience; (5) SSA could improve its chances of making future progress by further scaling back its near-term efforts to include only initiatives that are critical to improving the disability claims process; (6) in addition, by testing related process changes together, rather than on a stand-alone basis, and at a smaller number of sites, SSA could free up resources while still obtaining valuable data; (7) SSA should also explore feasible alternatives before committing significant resources toward the testing of specific initiatives; (8) because a process change might function differently under actual operational conditions than it did in a test environment, SSA will need to revise its performance measures to better monitor and more fully assess the impact of changes on the process; and (9) moreover, SSA will need to ensure that an adequate quality assurance process is in place so that any changes SSA makes to the process do not compromise the quality of decisions.