DSI to be DOA?

Is DSI (Disability Service Improvement, See previous post: 8/24/06) destined to be DOA (Dead on Arrival)?

Personally, I hope not. If it can provide the lofty goals it aspires to, happy days are here again. Yet, turning the ocean-liner Queen Mary 180 degrees, is not easy, and it is slow. It requires careful attention, and an attentive crew and Captain. The Captain, Jo Anne B. Barnhart, ends her tour of duty in January, 2007. Then what?

DSI is Barnhart's solution to the disability process that has become slower, and slower, and slower.

In a separate move, using technology, "paperless" files, are expected to speed up the process. This change has been going through implementation for several years. Long delays spent "searching for the file" led the Commissioner to this move. A bold, and innovative, step into the future. Certainly, it will solve the problem of lost files. Hopefully, it will not create a new set of problems not anticipated.

At present, the paperless system has only recently been introduced in Nebraska, one of the last states to receive it. It has not yet reached our Hearing Office (ODAR). The learning curve for the Administration and the practitioners, hopefully, will not be long. The current delays which I am sure will be longer due to technology, hopefully, will be short-lived.

So, add DSI on top of paperless, and we may be experiencing delays like never before. Will DSI cripple the system, or save it? More to the point, will the NEXT Commissioner support it or trash it?

Time holds the answer.

Free Alcohol Screening

You might try this. It's free. I make no representations about its authenticity.

Madison Avenue, and the alcohol industry, makes life look good in their commercials if you drink the right kind of beer. Some of the ads are very funny ("magic refrigerator"). That's how it starts.

Take it or leave it. I found it, and wanted to share it.

Is Reconsideration really disappearing?

This month, in Region 1, Commissioner Barnhart's "revised" Social Security Disability process began (See, 71 Fed. Reg. 16424 (Mar. 31, 2006)). Region one is a four state region in the northeast part of the country. It is the smallest region, and would appear to be the "test site" for the silver bullet to cure the disability quagmire. Or, will it be yet another effort to fix the system that can be added to the list of others that didn't work.

While parts of the program are encouraging, the focus on a "quick" decision gives this attorney a chill up the spine due to the emphasis on fast rather than fair. All of my clients are tired of waiting for decisions, but all would rather wait than get a speedy unfair decision.

Technology is the keystone.

keystone

(n.)

The central wedge-shaped stone of an arch that locks its parts together.

Just as the last piece placed in the top of the arch in St. Louis, the keystone must fit and hold together the entire structure. We can only hope. Computers were supposed to save us time and make the 4-day work week the norm. Did they?

This "revised" Social Security Disability process has been dubbed DSI. Like any good government thing - it has initials. The actual name is Disability Service Improvement process. The website for DSI is: http://www.ssa.gov/disability-new-approach/

For Nebraska, the latest estimate I have heard is 2 years before the process gets here. We'll see.

Haller on radio 09/15/2006

I will be on the call-in radio show: "Ask a Lawyer" on September 15, 2006 at 10:30 a.m. Be sure to tune in to 91.5 F.M. & call in with a question or a comment.

On September 15th only, to talk to Haller in Omaha on the radio, call (402) 557-2777