In a press release from last week Social Security made it known that they are in the process of transitioning how Continuing Disability Reviews (CDR) will be conducted.
If you receive SSDI or SSI you’ll probably be aware that, unless you have a Ticket to Work in use and you’re making timely progress, every so often you’ll be required to prove to SSA that you still meet their disability requirements. Generally named the ‘medical review’, the agency’s formal term is the CDR. Depending on the likelihood of your recovery those CDRs are expected to come around between every 3 and 7 years. In actuality, those spans have been longer, but now SSA is trying to get back on course.
The grand plan that has been revealed is to take responsibility away from the state Disability Determination Services (DDS) and put it on the centralized Disability Case Review office. As the current SSA commissioner, Frank J. Bisignano put it ““With complete ownership and accountability of CDRs and the proven track record of our DCR, our state disability determination service partners will be able to focus on the adjudication of initial disability claims and reconsideration cases, provide eligible individuals with expedited access to benefits, and further reduce initial disability claims backlogs, which are already reaching historic lows.” While that last assertion is only true because the backlog was at an all-time high last year, the plan seems clear.
It remains to be seen how effective it will prove to be; the centralization of services does not always lead to efficiency, yet it has been reported that SSA is looking to recruit staff. Perhaps some of the 9,000 staff who left under the DOGE efficiency drive of 2025 will be enticed back.