Social Security Administration July 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are requesting public input as we develop our Service Delivery Plan (SDP). We recently completed our Agency Strategic Plan (ASP) for 2013-2016. The ASP identifies four goals: (1) Deliver quality disability decisions and services; (2) provide quality service to the public; (3) preserve the public's trust in our programs; and (4) strengthen our workforce and infrastructure. Consistent with these goals, our SDP will outline how we plan to provide our services over the next four years and beyond.

In accordance with 20 CFR 402.35(b)(1), the Commissioner of Social Security gives notice of Social Security Ruling, SSR 12-2p. This ruling provides guidance on how we develop evidence to establish that a person has a medically determinable impairment of fibromyalgia, and how we evaluate fibromyalgia in disability claims and continuing disability reviews under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act.

We are revising our rules to give adjudicators the discretion to proceed to the fifth step of the sequential evaluation process for assessing disability when we have insufficient information about a claimant's past relevant work history to make the findings required for step 4. If an adjudicator finds at step 5 that a claimant may be unable to adjust to other work existing in the national economy, the adjudicator will return to the fourth step to develop the claimant's work history and make a finding about whether the claimant can perform his or her past relevant work. We expect that this new expedited process will not disadvantage any claimant or change the ultimate conclusion about whether a claimant is disabled, but it will promote administrative efficiency and help us make more timely disability determinations and decisions.