Public Use Files

Fast Track Processes Public Use Files
National Beneficiary Service (NBS) Public Use Files

Contact Information
For additional information, e-mail OPDR.PUF@ssa.gov .

The Fast Track Process Public Use Files

We are obligated to provide benefits quickly to claimants whose medical conditions are so serious that they clearly meet our disability standards. Our two fast-track processes, Quick Disability Determinations (QDD) and Compassionate Allowances (CAL), use technology to identify claimants with the most severe disabilities and allow us to expedite our decisions on those cases.

The QDD process uses a computer-based predictive model to screen initial applications to identify cases where a favorable disability determination is highly likely and medical evidence is readily available. By identifying QDD claims early in the process, we can prioritize this workload and expedite case processing. We have used QDD nationally since February 2008. We continue to refine the QDD predictive model to maximize its capacity to identify accurately these cases, so that we can expand the QDD process to serve additional claimants. For more information about the QDD process, see the Quick Disability Determinations homepage .

The CAL process is a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that invariably qualify under the Listing of Impairments based on minimal objective medical information. The CAL process allows us to target quickly the most obviously disabled individuals for allowances based on objective medical evidence that we can obtain quickly. For more information about the CAL process, see the Compassionate Allowances homepage .

Description

The dataset provides, by state, the total number and percentage of initial disability fast‑track and electronic cases that were received and accepted by the Disability Determination Services (DDS), Extended Service Team (EST), or a federal site during the reporting fiscal year (FY) 2010.

A case can include one or more claims filed by an individual.

Fast-tracked cases consist of those cases identified as Quick Disability Determination (QDD), Compassionate Allowance (CAL), or both.

FY 2010 represents the reporting period of September 26, 2009 – September 24, 2010. A reporting month runs from the last Saturday of the month through the last Friday of the following month.

One of the performance measures for the Agency is to “achieve the target percentage of initial disability claims identified as Quick Disability Determination (QDD) or a Compassionate Allowance (CAL).” This performance measure is a national percentage based on the cases identified as QDD or CAL for the reporting month of September. The “Percentage of Fast-Track Receipts for Fiscal Year 2010” dataset is derived in the same manner as this performance measure. However, the dataset expands the criteria to include fast-tracked cases for the entire reporting FY, instead of cases that were fast‑tracked for the month of September 2010, and includes the percentage by state.

Data Collection Description

The dataset represents the agency’s programmatic disability data used to administer the disability process and is published in official agency reports.

Technical Documentation

The dataset is provided in an excel spreadsheet (.xls) and a comma-separated values (.csv) file. It represents data for the reporting FY 2010 (September 26, 2009 through September 24, 2010). The data is summarized at the state level and sorted in ascending order by state, dataset column A. The dataset includes the following categories:

• State (Column A)
• State Abbreviation (Column B)
• Region (Column C)
• Total Fast-Track Receipts (Column D)
• Total DDS Electronic Receipts (Column E)
• % of Fast-Track Receipts (Column F)

Data Dictionary

1 Extended Service Teams (ESTs) provide national case processing assistance to states most adversely affected by an increase in initial disability cases. During FY 2010, Little Rock, Arkansas and Roanoke, Virginia received and accepted fast-track cases. The Madison, Mississippi EST received and accepted DDS electronic receipts.

Data Files

The following data file is in excel (.xls) format.
2011 0831 Percent of Fast-Track Receipts for FY2010

The following data file is in comma-separated values (.csv) format.
2011 0831 Percent of Fast-Track Receipts for FY2010

The National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Public Use Files

The National Beneficiary Survey is a component of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) evaluation of the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency program (TTW). The survey is sponsored by SSA’s Office of Retirement and Disability Policy and conducted by Mathematica Policy Research (Mathematica), collected data from a national sample of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries and a sample of TTW participants. Mathematica conducted most interviews using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI).  For beneficiaries who did not respond to the CATI interview or who preferred or required an in-person interview, Mathematica followed up using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI).  Background, description of the surveys, sample sizes, and reports are available at NBS page.  Codebooks, technical information, and public use data files are available below. 

Background
The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 authorized TTW.  TTW is a voluntary employment program for Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities. The legislation was designed to create market-driven services to help disability beneficiaries become economically self-sufficient.  Under the program, SSA provides disability beneficiaries with a “Ticket” or coupon that they may use to obtain employment-support services, including vocational rehabilitation, from an approved provider of their choice (called Employment Networks or ENs).

SSA implemented the TTW program beginning in 2002 in three phases spanning three years.  Each phase corresponded to about one-third of the states. SSA is conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the TTW program and the NBS is designed to supplement that evaluation by providing information on beneficiaries’ characteristics, awareness of SSA work assistance programs, and attitudes toward work that is not otherwise available.  The initial NBS survey design called for four national cross-sectional surveys (called rounds) of Ticket-eligible SSA disability beneficiaries— one each in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007—and cross-sectional surveys of Ticket participants in each of three groups of states (Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 states)—defined by the year in which the program was rolled out.  In addition, the design called for the first TTW participant cohort in each group of Ticket roll-out states to be followed longitudinally until 2006. SSA subsequently revised this survey design to include all SSA beneficiaries with disabilities (not just those who were Ticket-eligible) and to postpone the final round of the survey to 2010 to address the experiences of TTW participants under new TTW regulations implemented by SSA in July 2008.

The NBS is intended to meet five key objectives: 1. Provide critical data on the work-related activities of SSDI and SSI beneficiaries, particularly as they relate to TTW implementation; 2. Collect data on the characteristics and program experiences of beneficiaries who use their Tickets; 3. Gather information about beneficiaries who do not use their Tickets, and the reasons they do not; 4. Collect data that will allow SSA to evaluate the employment outcomes of Ticket users and other SSDI and SSI beneficiaries; and 5. Collect data on service use, barriers to work, and perceptions about TTW and other SSA programs designed to help beneficiaries with disabilities find and keep jobs.

Though some sections of the NBS target beneficiary activity directly related to TTW, most of the survey captures more general information on SSA beneficiaries, including their disabilities, interest in work, use of services, and employment. As a result, SSA and external researchers interested in disability and employment issues can use the survey data for other policymaking and program-planning efforts.

As part of an evaluation of the TTW, Mathematica conducted the first round of the NBS in 2004. The survey included a national sample of SSA disability beneficiaries (the Representative Beneficiary Sample) and a sample of TTW participants (the Ticket Participant Sample). Mathematica collected data using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) with computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) follow ups for CATI non-respondents and those who preferred or required an in-person interview to accommodate their disabilities.  Additional rounds of the NBS were conducted as planned in 2005 (round 2) and 2006 (round 3).  The fourth round of the NBS is planned for 2010.

Sample members in both the Representative Beneficiary Sample and the Ticket Participant Sample received the same survey instrument. The NBS collects data on a wide range of topics including employment, limiting conditions, experience with SSA programs, employment services, health and functional status, health insurance, income, and socio-demographic information. The survey instrument and other technical documents related to the NBS are available from SSA or Mathematica upon request.

Available Information
The public use files below are only for the Representative Beneficiary Samples for rounds one, two, and three.  The Ticket Participant Samples are not available for public use.  A relatively small proportion of SSA beneficiaries participated in the TTW program, and, as a result, the sampling rate for the Ticket Participant Samples was quite high.  For this reason, SSA’s OPDR Disclosure Review Board believes releasing the participant sample would pose an unacceptable risk of disclosure for this portion of NBS survey participants.

Public use round one data (released September 2009)
Documentation.
The following NBS documentation file is provided in PDF format:
NBS R1 PUF Codebook.pdf          
Data Files.
The following NBS data file is provided in SAS 9.1 format:
r1puf093009.zip
The following NBS Data file is provided in CSV format (posted January 2010):
r1puf093009.CSV
For those who have an older version of Excel, the CSV file has been separated into the following four sections:
r1puf093009_1a.CSV
r1puf093009_2a.CSV
r1puf093009_3a.CSV
r1puf093009_4a.CSV

Public use round two data file (released December 2009)
Documentation.
The following NBS documentation file is provided in PDF format:
NBS_Codebook_12-16-09.pdf          
Data Files.
The following NBS data file is provided in SAS 9.1 format:
R2puf102609.zip
The following NBS Data file is provided in CSV format:
r2puf102609.CSV
For those who have an older version of Excel, the CSV file has been separated into the following six sections:
r2puf102609_1a.CSV
r2puf102609_2a.CSV
r2puf102609_3a.CSV
r2puf102609_4a.CSV
r2puf102609_5a.CSV
r2puf102609_6a.CSV

Public use Round Three data file (released January 2010)
Documentation.
The following NBS documentation file is provided in PDF format:
NBS_Codebook_10_20_2010.pdf
Data Files.
The following NBS data file is provided in SAS 9.1 format:
r3puf121509.zip
The following NBS Data file is provided in CSV format:
r3puf121509.CSV
For those who have an older version of Excel, the CSV file has been separated into the following seven sections:
r3puf121509_1a.CSV
r3puf121509_2a.CSV
r3puf121509_3a.CSV
r3puf121509_4a.CSV
r3puf121509_5a.CSV
r3puf121509_6a.CSV
r3puf121509_7a.CSV

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