Social Security: january1994

8/14/2019 Social Security: january1994

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FEATURES DEPARTMENTS

4 SSI marks 20 years

6 Getting SSI up and running

9 SSA community scholarshipapplication accepted

10 Reengineering the agency

12 Houston’s Northeast BO

16 Debt management record set in 18 Personnel matters

Wisconsin DO 20 I n k l i n g s17 Program primer

2219 TQI book review

Scanning Social Security

27 Retirees21 Components implement TQI

From the editor

Researching the articles for the20th anniversary of SSI was veryenlightening. A program circularfrom early 1974 stated, “SocialSecurity offices always face heavyinterviewing loads at the beginningof a week, at the beginning of a

month, after a holiday, and at thefirst of the year. On this occasion, allcoincided with the beginning of anew program, and a new programwhich started with issuance of checksto people with whom communica-tion is often difficult.

“‘The largest crowds were in somemetropolitan areas, notably NewYork City, Seattle, and San Francisco.

Emergency measures had to be putinto effect in New York City, wherein some offices the lines of peoplewaiting to be interviewed stretchedout onto the sidewalk. On January 9,22 heated buses, with toilet facilities,were stationed at curbside outside

the busiest offices. More than 200 ad-ditional interviewers were temporar-ily assigned to New York City officesfrom other locations.”

Yet the central salient fact of thatfirst week, in which more than threemillion SSI checks were mailed, isthat approximately 98 percent of them were delivered promptly andin the right amount.

On the following seven pages, wereview and recount some of the ac-tivities that made this achievementpossible.

Also in this issue, are excerptsfrom an address by Dr. Michael Ham-mer, an authority on reengineering

processes. That article is on page 10.And, in our continuing series of arti-cles on urban offices helped by theMetropolitan Office EnhancementProject, is a profile of the HoustonNortheast Branch Office on page 12.

Shirley S. ChaterCommissioner

Sheryl MorrisProduction Manager

Published for the employees of the SocialContributions and inquiries should be ad4-H-10 West Highrise, Baltimore, MD 21235. Phone 410-965-3909.

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THE COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY

BALTIMORE, M A R Y L A N D 2 1 2 3 5

January 1, 1994

Dear SSA Coworkers:

An anniversary gives us time to remember: time to relive andcelebrate joyous moments in our own lives; time to reflect onevents that we shared as members of a larger community. Whateverthe past event, happy or solemn, an anniversary gives us all theopportunity to consider an event's messages for us from the pastand into the future.

We, here at SSA, have a special anniversary to commemorate. Weinvite you to join us in observing the 20th Anniversary of the

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

The first SSI benefits were paid in January 1974. Though wepersonally were not yet part of the SSA family, we can wellimagine-- and have been told by many of you--what a hectic,exciting time that was with only 14 months between legislativeenactment and the doors opening to the public. Staff throughoutSSA performed a near miracle in getting those first checks in themail. That commitment to a program that helps people so directlyhas continued through the years. With new challenges along theway and a population of people served that has nearly doubledsince the beginning,decade of service.

the SSI program prepares to enter a third

We should take pride in the help that we can give to people whoselives have challenged them with unimaginable difficulties. Butalso, we should look behind us for lessons learned over these20 years. Hopefully,our vision of new,

our experiences, our desire to serve, andand yet to be discovered, ways to meet the

compelling needs of individuals that the SSI program wasestablished to serve will carry us through the next decade we nowenter together.

Happy Anniversary, SSI!

Sincerely,

.~k/&~~, 1 q(l!.,: ncp k i '3,or^, J L3-.\

Shirley . Chater Lawrence H.Commissioner

ThompsonP

of Social SecurityPrincipal Deputy Commissioner

of Social Security



SSI marks 20 years

‘ The grea test c ha llenge (SSA) ha s ever ha d ’

Twenty years ago, on Janu- older, those who are blind, andary 2, 1974, the Supplemen- those who have disabilities-tal Security Income (SSI) when they also have low income

program became a reality when and limited resources.the first rush of claimants underthe new program entered our of-

SSA’s greatest cnallenge

fices. When President Nixon signedSSA had been given 14 months the SSI legislation into law, he

to prepare for SSI-and, according to re-ports from the field,we needed everyminute.

When PresidentRichard Nixonsigned the SSI legisla-tion on October 30,1972, he called it“landmark legisla-tion.” It provided fora new federal pro-gram that would im-prove the economicsecurity of America’sneedy aged, blindand disabled.

Many of the origi-nal SSI recipients had

SSI Beneficiaries

Blind Adults* *

DisabledChildren*

A g e d

SSA was given the responsibil-ity of administering the programbecause we had a nationwide net-work of field offices and a state-

of-the-art dataprocessing and re-cordkeeping system.

Also, there was(and is) a consider-able overlap be-tween the clienteleof the Social Securityinsurance programsand SSI. (In certain

situations, individu-als can receive bene-fits from bothprograms.)Disabled

Adults* * IMillions 0 1 2 3 4

*Includes blind children.

*‘Includes people age 65 or older who received SS I before age 65.

been on state assistance rolls be- also increased the responsibilitiesmated that about 3.2 million state

welfare recipients would be trans-ferred to the federal rolls by Janu-ary 1974. In addition, threemillion new claims would betaken from people made eligibleby the new SSI program. Ten re-gional planning officers were ap-

with all seriousness that to doso will take everything that wehave.”

Why us?

Establishing asense of the scope ofthe new programthat the agency hadto administer wasdifficult.

In 1973, SSA esti-fore the federal program was es- of SSA. Then-Commissioner

tablished. The federal SSI Robert Ball noted, “We’re faced-program was designed to pro- beginning now-with the great-vide a nationally uniform income est challenge that this organi-floor for people who have little or zation has ever had. And I face itnothing on which to live. The pro- with you with great confidence. Igram provides monthly pay- know that we’ll live up to thements to individuals age 65 or challenge, but I want to stress

O A S I S 4 Ja n u a rv 1 9 9 4



pointed to work directly withstate and county welfare agencies

The ensuing years

during this period to make readyThere have been many SSI

for the changeover to a federal-program changes over the past

ized assistance program.20 years.

A further complication wasMany of the SSI program

that before SSI went into effect onchanges are reflected in the

January 1, 1974, the legislationchanging demographics of our

was amended twice-on July 9

SSI clients.

and December 31. These amend- While SSI was designed toments increased the amounts pay-

serve people of all ages, persons

able under the program, and thenaged 65 and over

initially com-

advanced the date the first in-prised more than half of the

crease would go into effect.caseload. Since then, the greatestgrowth has occurred among dis-

nally designed, program admini-stration has been marked by sig-nificant change.

In the early days, claimantshad to appear in person at fieldoffices in order to complete paperapplications. Now many applica-tions can be completed by tele-

phone, and a new computer-based system provides an auto-mated process that is more accu-rate and efficient.

Success nonethelessBy March 1974, ceremo-

nies at headquarters wereheld in which Health, Edu-cation and Welfare Secre-tary Caspar Weinbergerpresented a Certificate ofAppreciation to SSA em-ployees “for excellent serv-ice to the people of the U.S.in the successful implemen-tation of the SSI program.”

abled recipients, whose numbermore than tripled since 1974 and

ISABILITY INSURANCE..1954

Claimants now have the optionof using a national 800 number toschedule appointments or obtaininformation about their claims.

SSA still places a high pri-ority on identifying low-in-come individuals who maybe eligible for SSI paymentsand informing them aboutthe program. One goal ofSSA’s outreach strategy is toreduce barriers that may de-ter people from programparticipation.

In all states, SSA person-nel had worked closely withstate agency employees tosee how the job could bebest accomplished.

In a major effort at out-reach, SSA and the Admini-stration on Aging joinedforces to conduct Project SSI-

“This is an especially ap-propriate time to reflect onwhat the SSI program is andwhat it should be,” saidLinda Davis Randle, ActingAssociate Commissioner forSupplemental Security In-

come. “As we embark onour third decade, we lookback over 20 years of SSI his-

Alert. In the forefront were “This is the basic federal model. it also comes with state options.” tory and also look forwarddistrict managers through- to the future.out the country who who constituted 73 percent of “Today, we’re addressingworked closely with repre-sentatives of other government

those on the rolls in 1993. major changes-larger caseloads

These increases involve dis- and changes in the economy. SSAagencies and private voluntary abled persons of all ages, includ- continues to evaluate whether theorganizations in a combined ef- ing children, who represent about basic goals set for the 1972 legisla-fort to inform potential beneficiar- tion are still appropriate and howies of provisions of the SSI

12 percent of recipients-up from3 percent in December 1975. the program can best serve its cli-

program. ents into the 21st century HowAs a result of these efforts, Technology SSI performs its mission in the fu-

more than 500,000 people who SSA has made use of rapidly ture will continue to be a concernhad not been receiving public as- for all of us.” +sistance payments previously

evolving technology to simplify

filed claims for SSI benefits be-agency contact for everyone.

fore the end of 1974.While the framework of SSI bene-fits remains essentially as origi-

OASIS 5 January 1994



Twentieth anniversary

How SSA met the c ha llenge

It was a formidable task, in-deed. “The SSI program hasproven more complex than

originally anticipated,” said Sum-ner Whittier, Director of the Bu-reau of Supplemental Security

Income (BSSI), who was in chargeof organizing SSA’s resources tomeet what others had called “ourgreatest challenge.”

In 1972, in order to implementSocial Security Act amendmentsmandating the new SSI program,the Office of Management andBudget permitted SSA to hire anadditional 12,000 permanent em-ployees by June 30, 1973.

In 1973 alone, the Bureau of

District Office Operations addedsome 250 field offices. Field of-fices set up special SSI units andheadquarters “experts” in SSIprogram policy volunteered fordetails in the field.

Estimates indicated that therewere then 800,000 people on theprior state programs’ assistancerolls who had never applied for aSocial Security number. So SSAwould have to enumerate those

individuals who had not beenassigned an SSN, but who wereeligible for benefits under the SSIprogram.

SSADARS, tooNot only did SSA have to con-

ministeringa new, com-prehensiveprogram,but also witha new state-of-the-artcommunica-tions system.

It wasclear from

Employee mastering newSSADARS system.

day one that SSI would necessi-tate dependable systems commu-nications between the field officesand headquarters computer op-

erations. The result was the SocialSecurity Administration DataAcquisition and ResponseSystem (SSADARS). Althoughsuch a system would have beenadopted eventually, it would nothave happened as quickly with-out SSI.

During the first week of opera-tion, SSADARS handled a total of 106,348 queries. The total jumpedto 646,044 by the end of January,

and it climbed to 1,258,942 byFeb. 19.

In the first month of operation,about 600 SSA employees weretemporarily reassigned to officeswith the heaviest SSI workloads.

They came from other DOs, theregional offices, the PSCs andheadquarters. In February 1974,a request for volunteers was cir-culated throughout central office.As a result, close to 100 more em-

ployees were sent out on tempo-rary assignments to the heavilyimpacted offices.

SSA budgeted for about233,000 hours of overtime perweek during 1974. Overtimehours decreased by almost half this amount by 1975.

Commissioner Bruce Cardwelladmitted, “There were problemsin the first month, but over 95 per-cent of the payments. . . were de-

livered promptly during the firstfew days of January.”

Heavy businessHe went on to say that many

Social Security offices across thecountry expected a heavy volumeof business again in February.“It’s still a brand new program,”he cautioned. “People aren’tfamiliar yet with eligibility rulesor payment amounts.”

By the end of the year, morethan 500,000 people who had notbeen receiving public assistance

O A S I S 6 January 1994



Scenes from 1974Left, San Francisco Regional Commissioner John Richardson

(I.) examines first batch of SSI checks slated for West Coast

de l ive ry w i th Treasury Depar tment o f f i c ia l Wi l l iam Mof fa t t .Above, Bureau of Data Processing Director Bill Hanna is

interviewed by Baltimore news media on agency preparations

for SSI. Below, Jan. 2, the first day of SSI, witnessed a rush of

claimants into SSA field offices, such as this one in Stockton,Calif. (Photo courtesy of Stockton Record.)




payments previously filed claimsfor SSI benefits.

With time and experience cameincreased efficiency. Between1974 and 1979, the SSI paymenterror rates were cut in half.

SSI today

By 1983, of 1,200 new claimsreps, 58 percent specialized in theSSI program. New SSI claims reptrainees were required to com-plete a nine-week course and tostudy 2,000 pages of lessons.

Mort Aronson, Training Coor-dinator and Operations Officer atthe Chicago (N.) DO in 1983, toldOASIS that they had “. . . a tightlypacked course for claims reptrainees” and that “on-the- job

training is also very important. Ifwe gave only classroom trainingduring the course, it wouldn’twork as well.”

At the end of fiscal 1993, SSIclaims reps numbered 8,278, in-cluding 2,625 “generalists” whotake both Social Security and SSIclaims.

The 3.2 million people receiv-ing assistance in 1974 has nearlydoubled. There are now an esti-mated 6.2 million people receiv-ing benefits. Figures from the1993 Social Security Bulletin indi-cate that in December 1992, over623,000 blind and disabled recipi-ents classified as children werereceiving SSI payments. Thesechildren make up almost 12 per-cent of SSI recipients.

An SSA initiative to modernizethe SSI claims process is proceed-ing on schedule. The new systemautomates the paper application

and claims development processwith a computer-based one thatis more accurate and efficient. Im-plementation of the new systembegan in March 1992. A secondphase, which expanded the capa-bilities of the system, was imple-mented in March 1993.

SSI outreach

As the SSI client base hasgrown, so have the needs. In1994, recipients include growingnumbers of non-English-speak-ing, homeless and mentally illclients, as well as patients withHIV/AIDS. These new chal-

lenges impact on the field officesin ways that did not exist 20years ago.

SSA is taking special measuresto reach homeless populations byworking directly with advocacygroups to disseminate informa-tion on the SSI program. Fieldreps take claims at homeless shel-ters, find rep payees and arrangefor addresses to which benefitchecks may be sent. Public serv-

ice announcements on televisionand radio stations across thecountry advertise messages onSSI. There are now more than

1,100 coordinators in regionaland field offices working on out-reach to the homeless.

A special youth initiative in-volving SSA participation in a

joint public and private sectorWorkgroup has been established

Above, instructor Bob Ann Peele returns cor-rected quizzes to 1983 class of SSI claims reptrainees. Below, SSI helped quadraplegicTony Ryals while he worked to become anindependent artist.

OASIS 8 January 1994



to address concerns of childrenwith special health care needs.The group, comprised of repre-sentatives from SSA, the HealthCare Financing Administration,HHS’s Maternal and ChildHealth Bureau, Department of Education, state title V programs

and advocacy groups, is workingto improve children’s access toSSI and to other available healthand rehabilitation services.

Linda Davis Randle, ActingAssociate Commissioner for SSI,told OASIS, “The history of thepast 20 years shows us that theenergy and innovation of our em-ployees have enabled the agencyto meet the challenges of a still-

changing SSI program. I don’tknow what the future holds forthe program, but I feel confidentthat our people will be able toadapt and perform at the samehigh level that we have in thepast.” 0

SSI helps aged individuals, such as Annie

Owens (above) and children, such as JohnSuarez (below with his mother Lupe).

SSA scholarships1994 applications accepted through April

The SSA Community Schol-arship Fund provides fi-nancial assistance to

children of full-time SSA andHealth Care Financing Admini-stration (HCFA) employees. Toqualify, children must:

*be high school seniors or col-lege students enrolled in an un-dergraduate program on afull-time basis;.maintain a current grade-

point average of at least 3.0;.demonstrate financial need;

and.participate in volunteer com-

munity/civic/religious/socialactivities.

Every dollar counts when financing higher

education for your children. Money from the

SSA Community Scholarship Fund can help.

SSA community scholarships

are awarded in three categories.be accepted during the month of

They are:April and must be mailed no laterthan April 30 to:

@Category A-Each scholar-ship will be valued at $1,000, andthe money can be used at the stu-dent’s school of choice.

SSA Community ScholarshipFund, Inc.

.Category B-Award of a one-year, full-tuition scholarship to alocal community college in Balti-more. (Application is restricted tostudents residing in the Baltimoremetropolitan area.)

6401 Security Blvd.Room 1-C-14 Operations Bldg.Baltimore, MD 21235

*Category C-Honorable men-tion scholarships, ranging from$100 to $300.

Selections will be made by an in-dependent selection committeeand winners announced in June. +

Applications can be picked upat any Employee Activities Asso-ciation service center or can be re-quested by calling (410) 965-8537after March 1. Applications will


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Social Security: january1994