On July 9, 2007, the Commissioner of Social Security announced a proposed regulation that would extend a quick determination process to all State disability determination services. The process, called quick disability determination (QDD), is already in operation in six New England states.

The QDD process is a predictive model that analyzes the data within an electronic claims file. The model then identifies social security claims in which there is a high potential that the claimant is disabled and where evidences of the disability can be quickly obtained.

James Scott Farrin’s Social Security Disability Attorney Rick Fleming said the proposed process will be beneficial.

“Anything that cuts down on the delays is a positive,” he said. “I do not think it will have a dramatic effect on the overall backlog at the Social Security Administration, but certainly any effort to speed things up for disabled and impoverished people is greatly needed.”

Since implementation of the QDD process, 97 percent of claims have been decided within 21 days, making the average time for a decision 11 days.

Fleming thinks the QQD process will help speed up social security disability claims.

“For the most obvious cases,” Fleming said, “Yes, it will be an expedited process.”

To read the proposed regulation, consumers can visit www.regulations.gov. For more information about Social Security disability programs, visit www.socialsecurity.gov.

Source: “Commissioner Astrue proposes to extend Social Security’s quick disability determination process to all states,” Social Security press office, July 9, 2007. (http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/qdd-process-pr.htm).