Strategic decision offers greater federal accountability and relief for states to focus on faster disability claim adjudication.
 

The Social Security Administration (SSA) today announced the agency will transition the processing of medical Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) from State Disability Determination Services (DDS) to its federal processing site called Disability Case Review (DCR). 

Bringing in-house CDRs will improve service to our most vulnerable Americans. CDRs are conducted as part of SSA’s ongoing program integrity workload, supported by Congress, to determine whether a person receiving disability benefits is still eligible to receive them. Aligning medical CDRs under SSA’s direct oversight means all CDRs, including non-medical CDRs, are solely the agency’s responsibility.

“By centralizing medical continuing disability reviews under Social Security, we are taking another important step towards operational excellence, reducing improper payments, and providing best-in-class service to Americans in critical need of support,” said Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano. “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.”

DDS can now focus their attention on expediting disability claims for residents of their state, which will enable efficient decisions for claimants, resulting in eligible individuals receiving the critical benefits they need in a timely manner. 

In June of 2024, the DDS initial claims backlog was at an all-time high with over 1.26 million pending claims. With a focus on process improvement and operational excellence, the backlogs have been reduced by more than 33 percent to 831,000 as of February 2026. The shift in responsibilities and continued partnership between SSA and state DDSs will continue to significantly improve the processing times and reduce the initial claims backlog.

The agency’s Disability Case Review, with its experience processing initial disability claims, reconsideration cases, and medical CDRs, will now handle medical CDRs for the entire country—allowing DDS sites to focus on reducing wait time on initial and reconsideration claims for citizens in their state citizens. Non-medical CDRs, which do not require the same expertise as medical CDRs to process, will continue to be handled by the agency’s field offices and processing centers.