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.