Summary: Social Security Administration (SSA) regulations call for continuing disability reviews to begin as soon as six months after benefits are awarded in some cases or as long as seven years after benefits are awarded in other cases. GAO has reported on several occasions that, because SSA did not consistently perform required reviews when due, hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs were incurred each year, and program integrity was undermined. About 4.3 million reviews were due or overdue as of fiscal year 1996. In response, SSA developed a plan for a seven-year initiative to conduct about 8.2 million reviews during fiscal years 1996 through 2002. SSA revised that plan in 1998, setting a goal of 8.1 million reviews for fiscal years 1998 through 2002--the last five years of the initiative. Including the 1.2 million reviews already processed, SSA plans to process a total of 9.3 million reviews during the full seven-year period. This report discusses (1) whether SSA's plan to process 8.1 million reviews during fiscal years 1998 through 2002 will result in reviews being done for all beneficiaries for whom reviews are required by law and (2) whether the disability determination services' processing capacity and the continuing disability review funding authorized by Congress through 2002 will be adequate.
