In July 2005, the Social Security Administration (SSA) proposed a new approach to assessing claims for disability benefits, which includes establishment of a national network of medical and psychological experts to evaluate cases. SSA asked the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies to offer guidance on the medical expertise required to evaluate medical records quickly and accurately.
In its new report, Improving the Social Security Disability Decision Process: Interim Report, an IOM committee offers recommendations on the credentials that medical and psychological personnel who review case records should have, the training they need, and the compensation necessary to attract them.
The interim report also addresses training and certification requirements for medical experts who examine applicants at SSA's request, called consultative examiners, and criteria for presumptive disability, a procedure that provides immediate payments to low-income applicants who are likely to be approved when the formal decision process is completed.
A final report, Improving the Social Security Decision Process, released in 2007, addressed the Listing of Impairments, a screening tool that SSA uses to determine disability solely on medical grounds.