Social Security Administration 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a new system of records entitled the Disability Analysis File (DAF) and the National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Data System, (60-0382). This notice publishes details of the system as set forth under the caption SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

We are soliciting public input to ensure that the manner in which we consider pain in adult and child disability claims under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act) remains aligned with contemporary medicine and health care delivery practices. Specifically, we are requesting public comments and supporting data related to the consideration of pain and documentation of pain in the medical evidence we use in connection with claims for benefits. We will use the responses to the questions below and any relevant research and data we obtain or receive to determine whether and how we should propose revisions to our current policy regarding the evaluation of pain.

We are requesting information on the appropriateness of our order of preference lists for selecting representative payees (payees) and the effectiveness of our policy and operational procedures in determining when to change a payee. We are seeking this information to determine whether and how we should make any changes to our representative payee program to help ensure that we select suitable payees for our beneficiaries.

We are announcing the end of the ``single decisionmaker'' test, consistent with our notice in the Federal Register in 2016, in which we said that we would end the test by December 28, 2018. This notice also extends the separate ``prototype'' test until its cessation in June 2020.

In accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act, as amended, this notice announces new matching program with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This agreement establishes the terms, and conditions, and safeguards under which CMS will disclose to SSA certain individuals' admission and discharge information for care received in a nursing care facility. SSA will use this data to administer the Supplemental Security Income program efficiently and to identify Special Veterans' Benefits beneficiaries who are no longer residing outside of the United States.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a new system of records entitled, Security and Suitability Files (60-0377). This notice publishes details of the new system as set forth under the caption, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

We propose to revise our rules to explain that the agency retains the right to determine how parties and witnesses will appear at a hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ) at the hearing level of our administrative review process, and we will set the time and place for the hearing accordingly. We also propose to revise our rules to explain the State agency or the Associate Commissioner for Disability Determinations, or his or her delegate, will determine how parties and witnesses will appear, and will set the time and place for a hearing, before a disability hearing officer (DHO) at the reconsideration level in continuing disability review (CDR) cases. At both levels, we propose to schedule the parties to a hearing to appear by video teleconference (VTC), in person, or, in limited circumstances, by telephone. We propose that parties to a hearing will not have the option to opt out of appearing by the manner of hearing we choose. We also propose rules that explain how we will determine the manner of a party's or a witness's appearance. We expect these proposed changes would improve our service to the public by increasing the efficiency of our hearings processes and reducing the amount of time it takes us to schedule and hold hearings.

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) changed the modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) ranges associated with Medicare Part B and Medicare prescription drug coverage premiums for years beginning in 2018. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA 2018) revised the MAGI ranges again for years beginning with 2019. We consider a beneficiary's MAGI and tax filing status to determine: The percentage of the unsubsidized Medicare Part B premium that the beneficiary must pay; and the percentage of the cost of basic Medicare prescription drug coverage the beneficiary must pay. This final rule makes our regulations consistent with the MAGI ranges specified by MACRA and BBA 2018.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, we are issuing public notice of our intent to modify an existing system of records entitled, Assignment and Correspondence Tracking (ACT) System (60-0001), last published in full on January 11, 2006. This notice publishes details of the proposed updates as set forth below under the caption, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, we are issuing public notice of our intent to modify our existing systems of records listed below under the System Name and Number section. This notice publishes details of the modification as set forth under the caption, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

Under title II of the Social Security Act (Act), there will be a 2.8 percent cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits effective December 2018. In addition, the national average wage index for 2017 is $50,321.89. The cost-of-living increase and national average wage index affect other program parameters as described below.

We are giving notice of an agreement coordinating the United States (U.S.) and Brazilian social security programs effective on October 1, 2018. The Agreement with Brazil, which was signed on June 30, 2015, is similar to U.S. social security agreements already in force with 26 other countriesAustralia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea (South), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Section 233 of the Social Security Act authorizes agreements of this type. Like the other agreements, the U.S.-Brazilian Agreement eliminates dual social security coverage. This situation exists when a worker from one country works in the other country and has coverage under the social security systems of both countries for the same work. Without such agreements in force, when dual coverage occurs, the worker, the worker's employer, or both may be required to pay social security contributions to the two countries simultaneously. Under the U.S.- Brazilian Agreement, a worker who is sent by an employer in one country to work in the other country for 5 or fewer years remains covered only by the sending country. The Agreement includes additional rules that eliminate dual U.S. and Brazilian coverage in other work situations. The Agreement also helps eliminate situations where workers suffer a loss of benefit rights because they have divided their careers between the two countries. Under the Agreement, workers may qualify for partial U.S. benefits or partial Brazilian benefits based on combined (totalized) work credits from both countries. Persons who wish to obtain copies of the Agreement or want more information about its provisions may write to the Social Security Administration, Office of International Programs, Post Office Box 17741, Baltimore, MD 21235-7741 or visit the Social Security website at www.socialsecurity.gov/international. The full text of the Agreement and its accompanying Administrative Arrangement is available at https:/ /www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Texts/brazil.html.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, we are issuing public notice of our intent to discontinue an existing system of records notice entitled, Optical System for Correspondence Analysis and Response, last published on January 11, 2006.

We are providing notice of SSR 18-02p, which rescinds and replaces the following sections of SSR 83-20, ``Titles II and XVI: Onset of Disability,''(1) ``Title II: Blindness Cases,'' and (2) ``Title XVISpecific Onset is Necessary,'' as it applies to blindness claims. Specifically, this SSR addresses how we determine the EOD in blindness claims under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). We concurrently published a separate SSR, SSR 18-01p, ``Titles II and XVI: Determining the Established Onset Date (EOD) in Disability Claims,'' which rescinded and replaced all other parts of SSR 83-20. Therefore, SSR 83-20 is completely rescinded and replaced by SSR 18-01p and SSR 18-02p.

We are providing notice of SSR 18-3p. This Ruling provides guidance about how we apply our failure to follow prescribed treatment policy in disability and blindness claims under Titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act).

On August 22, 2012,\1\ we announced in the Federal Register a schedule of standardized administrative fees we charge to the public. We charge these fees to recover our full costs when we provide information and related services for non-program purposes. We are announcing an update to the previously published schedule of standardized administrative fees.\2\

The Acting Commissioner of Social Security gives notice of the rescission of Social Security Ruling (SSR) 82-53.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a new system of records entitled, General Law Litigation Files (60-0272). This notice publishes details of the new system as set forth under the caption, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

In accordance with the Privacy Act and our disclosure regulations, we are issuing public notice of our intent to publish a new routine use applicable to four of our system of records. The routine use will permit disclosures we intend to make to new entities to support the administration of our representative payee program. The system of records notices (SORN) listed below maintain information used in our representative payee program, in addition to a variety of SSA's core mission operations. This notice publishes details of the proposed updates as set forth below under the caption SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

We are revising our rules of conduct and standards of responsibility for representatives. We are also updating and clarifying the procedures we use when we bring charges against a representative for violating these rules and standards. These changes are necessary to better protect the integrity of our administrative process and to further clarify representatives' existing responsibilities in their conduct with us. The revisions should not be interpreted to suggest that any specific conduct was permissible under our rules prior to these changes; instead, we seek to ensure that our rules of conduct and standards of responsibility are clearer as a whole and directly address a broader range of inappropriate conduct.

In a final rule published on January 19, 2017, a number of federal departments and agencies revised to the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (often referred to as the ``Common Rule''), which each department and agency adopted into regulations in its part of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the same changes in a final rule published on September 18, 2017. The revised Common Rule was scheduled to become effective on January 19, 2018, with a general compliance date of the same date. By an interim final rule issued on January 17, 2018 and published in the Federal Register on January 22, 2018, federal departments and agencies delayed the effective date and the general compliance date for the revised Common Rule for a 6-month period, until July 19, 2018. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an interim final rule adopting the same regulatory changes on January 26, 2018. The revised Common Rule, including technical amendments made by the January 22, 2018 interim final rule, is referred to here as the ``2018 Requirements.'' On April 20, 2018, the federal departments and agencies listed here published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) proposing and seeking comments as to whether the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements should be delayed for an additional 6-month period. The NPRM also proposed and sought comments on whether to allow regulated entities to implement certain burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements in specified circumstances during such continued delay period. Through this final rule, we are adopting the proposals described in the April 20, 2018 NPRM. This rule delays the general compliance date for the 2018 Requirements for an additional 6-month period, until January 21, 2019. As a result of this delay, regulated entities will be required, with an exception, to continue to comply with the requirements of the pre-2018 version of the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects (the ``pre-2018 Requirements'') until January 21, 2019. The one exception to this general rule is that institutions will be permitted (but not required) to implement, for certain research, three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements during the delay period (July 19, 2018, through January 20, 2019). Those three provisions are: The revised definition of ``research,'' which deems certain activities not to be research covered by the Common Rule; the elimination of the requirement for annual continuing review with respect to certain categories of research; and the elimination of the requirement that institutional review boards (IRBs) review grant applications or other funding proposals related to the research. Institutions taking advantage of the three-burden reducing provisions must comply with all other pre-2018 Requirements during the delay period. The three burden-reducing provisions of the 2018 Requirements can only be implemented during the delay period with respect to studies initiated prior to January 21, 2019 that will transition to compliance with the revised Common Rule. Any study that implements these three burden-reducing provisions during the delay period must, beginning on January 21, 2019, comply with all of the 2018 Requirements for the balance of the study's duration.

In today's Federal Register, the Social Security Administration (SSA) separately published, notice of a new system of records, Social Security Administration Violence Evaluation and Reporting System (SSAvers). Because this system will contain investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes, this proposed rule will exempt those records from specific provisions of the Privacy Act.