The Social Security Administration’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review finds a way to tackle an overwhelming backlog of disability appeals cases. The data-driven training program from the agency’s Office of Appellate Operations helps officers with the critical thinking skills they need to decide cases more efficiently. Administrative Law Judges now earn better results on 35 out of 84 performance metrics. Teresa Pfender, an appeals officer at SSA’s Office of Appellate Operations, is now on detail as a senior policy advisor to the Social Security Advisory Board. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose about leading ODAR’s training program, which won a W. Edwards Deming Award for the second time.

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