[PDF] The Disability Advocacy Program (DAP) Report - January 1 2018

View - Download The Disability Advocacy Program (DAP) Report - January 1 2018

Previous PDF

Next PDF

Disability Advocacy Program

Report to the Legislature

Program Period: January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021

1 Preface

The Disability Advocacy Program (DAP) was initially established by Chapter 627 of the Laws of

1983, adding Section 35 of the Social Services Law, which provides for the legal representation

of individuals whose federal disability benefits have been denied or may be discontinued. Pursuant to the statutory provisions, the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) must make grants, within the amounts appropriated,

to not-for-profit legal services corporations, not-for-profit agencies serving the disabled and social

services districts to provide for such representation. As last amended by Chapter 114 of the Laws of 1997, the program was made permanent, and the OTDA Commissioner was required to submit a biennial report of DAP activities to the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and the Chair of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. This report to the Legislature covers the January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2021, program period.

2 Executive Summary

The Disability Advocacy Program (DAP) provides legal assistance to New Yorkers with a disability who need legal help in seeking federal disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs. Significant savings have resulted from thousands of New Yorkers with a disability moving from State and locally funded public assistance programs to federally funded disability programs. The DAP program provides these services to low-income households at no charge to the individual. Savings accrue each year due to the avoidance of State and local public assistance costs that otherwise would have been paid for those individuals during the period they remained a part of the State's public assistance caseload. In addition, New Yorkers with a disability served by the program have received retroactive federal disability payments of over $20 million for 2020 and almost $13 million for 2021; these retroactive awards have a positive economic impact as they are spent in local economies. DAP is a successful and cost-effective component of the State's efforts to assist its disabled residents. DAP providers were able to provide representation for 1,963 cases in 2020 and 1,199 cases in 2021. They prevailed in 65% of the cases in 2020 and 72% of the cases in 2021 in which they provided representation.

3 I. The Disability Advocacy Program: Legal Services for Disabled New Yorkers

DAP service providers represent eligible clients at appeal stages of the Social Security disability determinations process. Clients must have incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level or be in receipt of public assistance to be eligible for representation by DAP contractors. Clients are supported through the administrative steps in the appeals process, which includes reconsideration, a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), and Appeals Council review. Judicial review of adverse administrative decisions is available in United States Federal District Courts, with appeals in New York going to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and ultimately to the Supreme Court of the United States. DAP providers focus primarily on representing disabled clients at the ALJ hearing and onward in the appeals process. Claimants are increasingly requesting and receiving DAP services one step earlier, at the reconsideration level now that the Social Security Administration (SSA) reintroduced it as an additional appeals level for all initial application denials beginning January 2019. II. Program Administration: Statewide DAP Providers Every county of the State is served by one or more DAP providers (see Appendix A). Pursuant to a Request for Proposal (RFP) released by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) in March 2016, 11 contracts were awarded to provide legal services and one contract was awarded to provide administrative state support. The time period covered by this report reflects data from the fifteenth through the twenty-second quarters of a five-year contract agreement that started on July 1, 2016, expired on June 30, 2021, and was extended by OTDA for one additional year, through June 30, 2022. On January 5, 2022, OTDA issued a new DAP RFP for a new five-year term beginning July 1, 2022.

III. Program Administration: Statewide Operations

administration of DAP, including issuance of the RFP, contractor selection, contract negotiations and ongoing monitoring of the program. DAP contractors are required to submit annual budgets for approval by OTDA for each year included in the contract period. DAP contractors submit vouchers for approved DAP expenditures on a quarterly basis. On a monthly basis, DAP contractors transmit case opening and closing data to the Empire Justice Center DAP State Support Unit, which provides statewide legal support and administrative services to the program. The Empire Justice Center DAP State Support Unit is responsible for providing comprehensive training and support to all DAP attorneys and paralegal staff and for ensuring that DAP providers are kept informed about any changes in federal law, rules or regulations that will impact access to federal disability benefits. The Empire Justice Center DAP State Support Unit is also responsible for maintaining monthly case closing data in a computer program as required by OTDA.

4 IV. Program Statistics: Winning Cases1

As the following data illustrates, DAP providers surpass national rates for favorable outcomes in Social Security appeals. For example, in 2021 in New York, SSA denied 56.3% of cases at initial application. Nationally, the rate is about 64%, with only about 24% of those denied going on to appeal, with a hearing before an ALJ. Claimants receiving representation from DAP contractors were more likely to obtain benefits on appeal. Out of 1,963 cases in which representation was provided for the period January 1, 2020 December 31, 2020, DAP providers prevailed in 1,279 cases, a 65% success rate.2 For the period January 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021, DAP providers won benefits in 869 cases, out of 1,199 where representation was provided, a 72% success rate. The breakdown of appeals and success rate for each local district is set forth in Appendix B. In contrast, in 2020, the overall success rate nationally at an ALJ hearing was 49%, with a success rate of 59% for claims heard in New York hearing offices. In 2021, the overall success rate nationally at an ALJ hearing was 51% and the New York win rate was about 59%. Claimants in Hearing Centers, where the overall success rate was 47% in 2020 and 46% in 2021.

Percentage of Successful Cases

80%
72%
65%

60% 59% 59%

49% 51%

47% 46%

40%
20% 0%

DAP Representation

National Win Rate

NY Win rate

National Hearing Center Win Rate 2020

65%
49%
59%

47% 2021

72%
51%
59%
46%

1 DAP contractors are required to achieve a minimum of 65% successful outcomes. DAP contractors are also required to ensure that

30% of clients served are Safety Net recipients and achieve a minimum of 50% successful outcomes for that population. The 2020

Safety Net win rate for DAP was 77%. The 2021 Safety Net win rate was 73%.

2 The win rate in 2020 was impacted negatively by the pandemic-related closure of offices from March 27, 2020, to April 6,

2022. See Statement of Kilolo Kijakazi, Social Security Administration to Resume In-Person Services at Local Social Security Offices,

Apr. 4, 2022, at https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2022/#4-2022-1. As a result, DAP contractors faced difficulty obtaining

information such as retroactive benefit and interim assistance amounts in successful cases. This led to a delay in reporting awards

and, consequently, a disproportionately higher number of losses reflected in case closings for 2020. Despite ongoing disruption, DAP

win rates increased to 72% in 2021, consistent with pre-pandemic years.

5 V. Program Statistics: Savings to the State and Localities

DAP saves New York State and its 58 social services districts millions of dollars. The savings come about both through the recovery of public assistance dollars expended and through avoiding future public assistance costs. Over 2,500 or almost 75% of the total clients served from January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020, were receiving some public assistance benefit. Of those receiving benefits, 54% received Safety Net (SN) benefits, 16% Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funded benefits and 29% Medical Assistance (MA) only. For January 1, 2021 - December 31, 2021, more than 1,800, or 71%, of the DAP clients served received public assistance benefits. Of those receiving benefits, 52% received Safety Net benefits, 17% received TANF-funded benefits, and 30% received Medical Assistance only.

2020 Public Assistance/Non-Public 2020 Public Assistance Breakdown

Assistance

SN

54.14% MA

29.44% TANF

16.42%

PA, 74% Non-PA,

26%

6 2021 Public Assistance/Non-Public 2021 Public Assistance Breakdown

Assistance

MA

30.41% SN

52.12% TANF

17.48%

PA, 71% Non-PA,

29%
For the January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020, time period, DAP was funded at an annual level of $8.26 million ($4.13 million State/$4.13 million local).3 DAP continues to be an extremely positive investment for the State. For the period January December 2020, close to $3.8 million in Interim Assistance was recovered.4 In addition, during 2020, DAP providers secured over $20 million in retroactive benefits paid to successful claimants who in turn are more financially secure and able to boost the economy as they spend these federal dollars in their local communities, paying rent and buying basic necessities. As a further benefit to the State, the DAP program activity in 2020 resulted in an estimated $4.9 million public assistance cost reduction realized by moving individuals from TANF/State/locally funded public assistance to more appropriate federal disability assistance. 5

3 Charts setting out each local share of DAP funding for 2020, and 2021 are attached as Appendix C Documents.

4 As with other case data reported for 2020 and 2021 such as case closings, see supra note 2, the amount of retroactive benefits,

interim assistance, and public assistance cost avoidance in 2020 and 2021 were adversely affected due to the unavailability of in-

person hearings and other pandemic-related factors. Numbers of cases opened were not as impacted; DAP contractors mitigated the

impact of closures through new and extensive outreach efforts. As a result, it is expected that numbers will return to pre-pandemic

levels. It is also expected that demand will be increased due to pent up demand for services, as well as the impact of Long COVID on

disability rates.

5 This estimate assumes two years of public assistance cost avoidance.

7 January December 2020

Number of Cases Closed (including brief service)6 3,518 Number of Cases Where Representation Provided 1,963

Number of Cases Where Awards Were Made 1,279

Actual Interim Assistance Recovered $3,763,386

Retroactive Awards Recovered by Claimants $20,053,346 For the period January-December 2021, DAP providers secured close to $2.7 million in Interim Assistance for claimants. Almost $13 million in retroactive benefits was paid to successful claimants, infusing new and on-goi activity in 2021 also generated $3 million in public assistance cost reduction by moving individuals from TANF/State/locally funded public assistance to more appropriate federal disability assistance.

January December 2021

Number of Cases Closed (including brief service)6 2,561 Number of Cases Where Representation Provided 1,199

Number of Cases Where Awards Were Made 869

Actual Interim Assistance Recovered $2,694,931

Retroactive Awards Recovered by Claimants $12,988,595

6 DAP contractors provide direct assistance or representation to individual clients, which includes advice and counsel, brief service,

information, referral to another entity where appropriate, representation before the Social Security Administration or federal courts,

and any other form of direct assistance to an individual disabled person. In addition to providing assistance in connection with a

ity related legal

problem such as issues of overpayments, calculations or benefits, SSA procedures, case investigation, and applications for or denials

of benefits.

8 Impact of DAP 2020 In Millions of Dollars

Retroactive Benefits

Interim Assistance

Public Assistance Cost Reduction

Program Cost

0 5 10 15 20 25

Program Impact Program Cost

20.05
3.76 4.9 8.26

Impact of DAP 2021 In Millions of Dollars

Retroactive Benefits

Interim Assistance

Public Assistance Cost Reduction

Program Cost

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Program Impact Program Cost 12.98

2.69 3.069 8.26 In addition to success in moving Temporary Assistance recipients to SSI and SSD, in 2020, DAP providers also won benefits in 583 non-public assistance and Medical Assistance cases. In 2021, they won 435 awards in these cases, providing these individuals a vital stable source of federal temporary assistance programs.

9 VI. The Continuing Need for Legal Representation

The services provided under the Disability Advocacy Program continue to be critical to low- income disabled New Yorkers. At the end of 2021, the number of claimants applying for benefits with increasingly stringent rules and regulations. With the recent reopening of SSA offices, the number of new disability applications in the State is expected to surge. Also, many claims now involve impairments related to Long COVID.7 DAP services will remain vital to helping low-income individuals access federal disability benefits.

VII. Core Representation Services

In 2021 the Disability Advocacy Program successfully handled over 1,200 appeals and saved New York State over $3 million in public assistance cost avoidance based on successful appeals.8 These appeals include representation by DAP advocates at the reconsideration and ALJ hearing levels as well as the SSA Appeals Council and U.S. District Court. The DAP State Support Unit of the Empire Justice Center assists those advocates who do not practice in federal court or have more limited experience with appeals, so that all claimants have access to the full panoply of appeal rights. As noted above, claimants historically have fared better when represented, especially by DAP providers.9 With the growing complexity of the appeals process and disability standards, high quality representation will be even more crucial. Thus, the DAP program anticipates similar numbers and savings during the program year 2022 and beyond. VIII. Continuation of the Disability Advocacy Program There is a continuing and pressing need to provide legal representation to persons whose federal disability benefits may be denied or discontinued. In light of the significant and far-reaching changes in the disability claims process at every step of administrative review, disabled New Yorkers will need the services of trained, experienced DAP advocates to assist them in navigating DAP has demonstrated its ability to successfully establish eligibility for federal benefits, secure on-going federal assistance to those they serve, and to achieve a significantly higher success rate than the national average.

7 The pandemic has been described as entailing ux of new entrants to the disability community in A.

Abrams, How COVID-19 Long Haulers Could Change the U.S. Disability Benefits System, Time, (7/20/21) available at

https://time.com/6081876/covid-19-long-haulers-disability-benefits/. Long COVID is considered a disability under the Americans with

Disabilities Act.

Section 1557, (7/26/21) available at https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/civil-rights-covid19/guidance-long-covid-

disability/index.html.

8 This estimate assumes two years of public assistance cost avoidance.

9According to data from SSA cited in the 2008 Report to the Legislature, in 2006, the national win rate with representation at the ALJ

hearing level was 68.7%; without representation it was 39.3%. The DAP win rate for this period was 78.5%. Similar data for later years

is no longer available from SSA. However, data in this Report indicates that the overall win rate nationally at the ALJ level dropped to

51% in 2021, with the NY ALJ win rate at about 59%. DAP advocates prevailed in 72% of their cases during this period.

10 APPENDIX A

DAP LEGAL REPRESENTATION SERVICES

County Contractor

Albany Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Allegany Empire Justice Center

Broome Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Cattaraugus Empire Justice Center

Cayuga Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Chautauqua Neighborhood Legal Services

Chemung Empire Justice Center

Chenango Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Clinton Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York Columbia Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Cortland Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Delaware Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Dutchess Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Erie Erie County DSS/Neighborhood Legal Services

Essex Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Franklin Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Fulton Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Genesee Neighborhood Legal Services

Greene Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Hamilton Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Herkimer Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Jefferson Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Lewis Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Livingston Empire Justice Center

Madison Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Monroe Empire Justice Center

Montgomery Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Nassau Nassau/Suffolk Law Services

Niagara Neighborhood Legal Services

Oneida Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Onondaga Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Ontario Empire Justice Center

Orange Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Orleans Neighborhood Legal Services

Oswego Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Otsego Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York

Putnam Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Rensselaer Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Rockland Legal Aid Society of Rockland County

Saratoga Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York Schenectady Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

11 County Contractor

Schoharie Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Schuyler Empire Justice Center

Seneca Empire Justice Center

Steuben Empire Justice Center

St. Lawrence Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Suffolk Nassau/Suffolk Law Services

Sullivan Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Tioga Empire Justice Center

Tompkins Empire Justice Center

Ulster Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Warren Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Washington Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York

Wayne Empire Justice Center

Westchester Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

Wyoming Neighborhood Legal Services

Yates Empire Justice Center

12 APPENDIX B APPEALS BY COUNTY 2020

County

District Number

of

Appeals Awards % Successful

Albany 49 36 73.47%

Allegany 6 4 66.67%

Broome 6 4 66.67%

Cattaraugus 4 3 75.00%

Cayuga 6 3 50.00%

Chautauqua 0 0 ---

Chemung 24 9 37.50%

Chenango 2 0 0.00%

Clinton 47 28 59.57%

Columbia 7 5 71.43%

Cortland 4 3 75.00%

Delaware 3 2 66.67%

Dutchess 30 23 76.67%

Erie 200 93 46.50%

Essex 7 6 85.71%

Franklin 27 19 70.37%

Fulton 20 15 75.00%

Genesee 14 11 78.57%

Greene 1 1 100.00%

Hamilton 1 1 100.00%

Herkimer 17 9 52.94%

Jefferson 6 3 50.00%

Lewis 5 3 60.00%

Livingston 11 9 81.82%

Madison 8 6 75.00%

Monroe 58 56 96.55%

Montgomery 17 10 58.82%

Nassau 39 32 82.05%

Niagara 22 12 54.55%

Oneida 70 29 41.43%

Onondaga 31 14 45.16%

Ontario 6 5 83.33%

Orange 24 12 50.00%

Orleans 4 2 50.00%

13 County

District Number

of

Appeals Awards % Successful

Oswego 2 1 50.00%

Otsego 26 19 73.08%

Out of State 1 1 100.00%

Putnam 4 3 75.00%

Rensselaer 28 20 71.43%

Rockland 23 23 100.00%

Saratoga 42 20 47.62%

Schenectady 3 19 633.33%

Schoharie 5 3 60.00%

Schuyler 2 0 0.00%

Seneca 6 6 100.00%

St. Lawrence 24 5 20.83%

Steuben 15 10 66.67%

Suffolk 24 13 54.17%

Sullivan 4 2 50.00%

Tioga 12 6 50.00%

Tompkins 15 8 53.33%

Ulster 28 17 60.71%

Warren 21 14 66.67%

Washington 22 11 50.00%

Wayne 8 6 75.00%

Westchester 64 45 70.31%

Wyoming 3 2 66.67%

Yates 4 2 50.00%

Upstate and

Long Island

Total 1192 724 60.74%

New York City

Total 771 555 71.98%

Program Total 1963 1279 65.16%

14 APPEALS BY COUNTY 2021

County District Number

of

Appeals Awards % Successful

Albany 29 24 82.76%

Allegany 10 8 80.00%

quotesdbs_dbs21.pdfusesText_27

[PDF] dap définition comptabilité

[PDF] dasar hukum pajak daerah dan retribusi daerah

[PDF] dasar hukum perkawinan pns

[PDF] dasco bureau des cours municipaux d'adultes

[PDF] dasen 03

[PDF] dasen caen

[PDF] dasen guyane

[PDF] dasen isere

[PDF] dasen versailles

[PDF] date acompte provisionnel tunisie

[PDF] date agrégation interne histoire 2018

[PDF] date bac francais 2017 bordeaux

[PDF] date bts design d'espace 2017

[PDF] date comprehension oral bac 2017

[PDF] date concours fastef 2016 2017