The Social Security Administration (SSA) has issued or revised several subregulatory guidance documents that may be of note to claimants’ representatives: 

CJB 22-02 REV

Issued on January 30, 2023, this CJB was updated to explain when ALJs may issue a dismissal in telephone and online video hearings for failure to appear when a Form SSA-5002 (Report of Contact) is in the record memorializing a waiver of the right to timely Notice of Hearing. The CJB was also revised to remove notice requirements for the resumption of in-person and VTC hearings, which resumed months ago, among other things.

POMS GN 03910 TN 30

This guidance explains changes made to POMS GN 03910.040 in January 2023 regarding claimants’ use of electronic signatures in the representative appointment process: “We added language to indicate that the claimant can sign the written notice of appointment either using the paper process or electronically via the e1696 process.  We also added a few NOTES that instruct staff to check emergency messages or other agency guidance to determine whether there are other temporary procedures in place regarding signature requirements and processing of representative appointments.  We have identified several options available to the claimant and representative to submit the appointment notice.  We clarified the procedures regarding processing incoming representative appointments, representative revocations, and representative withdrawals for paper and electronic claims at different levels of adjudication as they relate to entering the information in RASR, flagging and annotating the system, and updating and documenting other systems…”

EM-23011

Published on February 9, 2023, this EM “notifies field office (FO) technicians of procedural changes during FO development of medical continuing disability review (CDR) documentation on the Activities of Daily Living (ADL) questions 8A and 8B for the SSA-454 paper form and i454 mySSA application.” 

As background, the EM explains that “Effective February 11, 2023, adult beneficiaries may complete and submit the SSA-454 (Continuing Disability Review Report) and the SSA-827 (Authorization to Disclose Information to The Social Security Administration) online.  The online SSA-454 will be known as the “i454”.

The link to the i454 will be posted to the beneficiaries my Social Security account. Additionally, the SSA-454 has been simplified and reorganized to reduce completion time and provide clarity in the questions on the form.

The i454 will reflect the revised SSA-454. The SSA-454 will be further revised to remove ADL questions 8A and 8B from the new form. The instructions in this EM will apply while the agency works to remove questions 8A and 8B from the form.” Accordingly, because ADL questions 8A and 8B are no longer required, the EM makes clear that FO technicians do not have to develop these questions if the beneficiary doesn’t answer them before transferring it to DDS.

SSA’s subregulatory guidance can be found online at https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/ and www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/hallex/hallex.html.