| Year | Initial awards |
Reconsideration awards |
Hearings and Appeals Council awards |
Pending final decision |
Medical denials |
Technical denials |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 29.1 | 5.0 | 15.6 | 0.0 | 40.9 | 9.4 |
| 1997 | 30.6 | 5.1 | 16.0 | 0.0 | 38.6 | 9.7 |
| 1998 | 32.7 | 5.4 | 15.7 | 0.0 | 37.1 | 9.0 |
| 1999 | 33.9 | 4.9 | 15.9 | 0.2 | 35.8 | 9.3 |
| 2000 | 34.4 | 4.4 | 15.9 | 0.3 | 34.0 | 11.0 |
| 2001 | 34.9 | 3.9 | 15.3 | 0.4 | 33.2 | 12.3 |
| 2002 | 31.5 | 3.6 | 15.6 | 0.9 | 33.9 | 14.6 |
| 2003 | 28.1 | 3.2 | 13.6 | 3.1 | 31.5 | 20.6 |
| 2004 | 24.7 | 2.6 | 6.9 | 9.7 | 27.2 | 29.0 |
| 2005 | 25.0 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 15.1 | 29.0 | 27.6 |
| SOURCE: Tables 58–63. | ||||||
| NOTES: Awards are calculated as medical allowances minus subsequent technical denials. Technical denials include both nonmedical decision technical denials and medical decisions that were subsequently denied for technical reasons. | ||||||
| The proportion of claims awarded at each level of the process is likely to change as a result of the Prototype Process being tested in 10 states. Under this test, the reconsideration step of the appeals process was eliminated for applications filed October 1, 1999, or later. Elimination of the reconsideration level in these states is likely to result in a decrease in the overall proportion of claims awarded at this step. | ||||||
