David Camp, NOSSCR CEO

In January, we announced that IC/RC case lists were available on ARS/ERE status reports. Through surveying our members, we estimated access to this information resulted in 42,000 fewer faxes and letters and 43,000 fewer calls to SSA each month.

To build on this progress, NOSSCR has worked closely with Social Security’s modernization team to identify additional information that, if provided through ERE/ARS, would allow representatives to have more insight into the case status and continue to reduce the burden on Social Security to provide this information by phone. In our Nashville conference, NOSSCR members met with SSA’s teams for several hours of listening sessions that produced significant upgrades to this new release. 

For the past few weeks, NOSSCR staff and board members have worked with Social Security to conduct beta testing of the new fields. We are pleased to announce that testing is now complete and the new fields are now live!

This isn’t a perfect or complete list of all data–far from it. But, it is a quick step that gets our work a significant step further toward efficient digital engagement at the early stages of a disability claim.

We are pleased to announce that the following statuses are now available to you through your downloadable IC/RC case list:

• Case level (reconsideration or initial)
• Receipt date (date received at DDS)
• First date assigned (to an adjuster)
• Closure date
• Federal Quality Review (FQR) start date
• First name
• Last name
• Middle name
• Last 4 SSN
• Claim type(s) (includes office with jurisdiction and most recent claim status)
• Claimant information requests (includes address where DDS contacted claimant) 
• Medical evidence requests (includes medical facility address) 
• CE appointments (includes appointment date, appointment time, whether confirmed or not, address)

While the absence of data on the list could still warrant a call to SSA, we believe access to this data will significantly diminish your need to call SSA to confirm case status. To encourage SSA to continue delivering these valuable data access points, please be sure to check your ERE/ARS for answers before calling/faxing SSA. The more we can illustrate mutual time-savings from these improvements, the more likely we are to see continued progress. 

To access this new feature, log in to your Appointed Representative Services account, click “Enter ERE,” and then click “Get Status Reports.” You should see “Get List of Initial and Reconsideration Cases.” Select that button and click “submit.” Once the report is generated, you will still only see the basic information (name, last 4 of SSN) for your first 100 cases. In order to see the newly added fields (and the full list of your cases), you must click on the “Download Spreadsheet” button. Once downloaded, you will be able to access an Excel spreadsheet with the complete list of your cases at IC/RC plus the new fields for each case. 

A few notes about the report:

• Within the report, the DDS office with custody of the case is identified via “site code.” NOSSCR has added a list of these site codes and the corresponding office / phone number to our website here. 
• If you enter your appearance on a case after the case has been denied, the case will not populate on this IC/RC list (or your OHO report) until the appeal has been processed and also received at the DDS (or OHO).
• Cases that are closed will continue to appear on this list for 65 days after they close.
  • The last visible claim status will be DDS’ final status and will not reflect the work that the field office is doing on the claim post-closure. For post-closure questions, contact the local field office. 
  • If you file an appeal and the appeal reaches DDS within 65 days of initial claim closure, a duplicative claim will appear on this list — one for the closed initial claim, and one for the pending reconsideration claim. The closed initial claim will drop off of the list 65 days after initial claim closure. 
• The address in the “claimant information request” field is the address that DDS used to contact the claimant. So if this does not match the claimant’s most up-to-date address, that would flag the need for a change of address update. 
• We are aware that representatives with caseloads over 500 are experiencing technical difficulties with the list. We have been in close communication with SSA about these problems and they are actively working on a fix — we appreciate your patience and will update you as soon as we know more.

Any questions about the data contained within this report should be directed to the field office or DDS in charge of the case. Should the issue require further escalation, please contact the relevant Regional Communications Director. Technical issues with the report can be directed to the ARS troubleshooting team at OHO.HQ.ARS@ssa.gov. Please also bring any persistent issues or errors to NOSSCR’s attention. 

NOSSCR is excited that Commissioner O’Malley continues to be responsive to our concerns and is acting quickly to enact change. We will continue to encourage SSA to update inefficient systems so our members face fewer technological roadblocks and can instead focus on their essential claimant representation duties.