General Session Recap

General Session Recap: What a great day! We kicked off our general session with an intro from NOSSCR CEO, David Camp, followed by presentations from SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley, the Office of Hearings Operations, and the Office of Electronic Services and Systems Integration. We heard about the exciting improvements that have already transpired under O’Malley’s leadership and the many changes that are still on the horizon. Some breaking news came out of the session—including that, starting June 9th, additional fields will be added to the IC/RC status report, allowing representatives to have timely access to case details that have previously only been available after multiple phone calls to the agency. OESSI also announced that hearing recordings will soon be clearer and available faster with tech improvements. Chief ALJ Nagle announced efforts to process fee petitions within 90 days and to exhibit case files at least 30 days prior to hearing dates. Chief Transformation Officer Betsy Beaumon discussed the push to remove wet signature requirements, including removing signatures altogether where they aren’t necessary. NOSSCR and SSA staff fielded questions from conference attendees and NOSSCR members, allowing the audience to get a window into present concerns with real time responses from SSA’s leadership! Finally, we heard from recipients of the Nancy Shor Award whose stories highlight the value of this organization and all our members. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and long-COVID advocate Rachel Beale highlighted the need for the changes—some of which are currently underway at SSA. A special thank you to all of our speakers for their time and the wonderfully informative presentations today!#NOSSCR2024