SUBJECT TO CHANGE

[Music] do you recognize this building some of you may because you work here or in similar surroundings how about this building the familiar site to many who work here to these buildings yes familiar to most of you whether you work here or not it's the Social Security Administration headquarters Baltimore Maryland most of you are also familiar with the objectives of the Social Security Administration the first of these objectives is to pay initial claims as soon after entitlement as practicable then process post entitlement actions promptly and accurately so that all benefits are paid on time this and the other objectives of Social Security provide a common motivation for everyone concerned with the payment of benefits whether in the central office Social Security district office or a payment center the thousands of individuals in these facilities perform a variety of tasks which are essential to the prompt and accurate payment of benefits to many millions on the beneficiary rolls these individuals although performing widely varied tasks have a common responsibility the collection evaluation and handling of claims related information this may be accomplished in a Social Security district office through personal contact with a claimant or it may be accomplished in a payment center where the information on a claim consists primarily of paperwork or at the central office through the use of electronic data processing commonly known as EDP today EDP is one of the most essential elements in processing post entitlement actions and in certifying an issuing millions of monthly checks to Social Security beneficiaries these checks are paid promptly and accurately every month on the basis of data maintained in the master beneficiary record or MBR the MBR consists of a series of magnetic tapes located in the bureau of data processing and accounts in the central office the information on this record must always be current and correct to ensure that the right check goes to the right person in the right amount and at the right time however the status of every social security beneficiary is subject to change [Music] one such beneficiary is Ben Grayson a college student Ben has received notice that his benefits will be terminated next month because of his graduation from school [Music] this is Helen Fraser a widow with two dependent children she has recently gone back to work as a teacher [Music] and this is Sam Nelson a retired beneficiary whose benefits were suspended when he went back to work he has recently quit work his anxious for his benefits to be resumed the cycle of life brings about many other changes in the status of every beneficiary these changes are called post entitlement actions and they must be recorded on the master beneficiary record so that benefits can properly be stopped resumed or changed these changes may originate in the central office in a social security district office or in a payment center the timely and accurate processing of these actions may be more important to the beneficiary than the payment of the initial claim the post entitlement actions which originate in the Bureau of data processing and accounts are primarily the result of age changes or additional earnings these actions although processed almost entirely by EDP require the services of computer programmers operators and technicians individuals whose professional competence and know-how are essential to trouble-free operations any human error made in the handling of these tapes could result in incorrect processing this could produce a hardship on the beneficiary as well as an increased workload on each of you although post entitlement actions could not be processed without ADP great reliance must also be placed upon the professional and technical skills of district office employees often actions originate when a beneficiary comes to a district office to report a change in status such as marriage divorce or return to work other contacts are made by telephone to report such things as non receipt of a benefit check other contacts are made by mail reporting a change of address or annual earnings every beneficiary report requires action this involves people a receptionist greeting the beneficiary must decide who should handle the inquiry a service representative listening to the beneficiary in person or on the telephone recommends or takes the proper action incoming notices are routed by a male clerk for the most efficient and accurate disposition claims representatives service representatives data reviewed technicians all share the responsibility for processing post entitlement actions accurately and promptly some of these notices must be sent to the payment center for clerical processing and others such as change of address or death of a beneficiary are handled automatically by district office direct input methods notices which can be handled by direct input are generally routed by the mail clerk to the data review technician here she checks the form for accuracy to assure that the desired post entitlement action will be achieved once verified this information is teletype directly to the computer in the Bureau of data processing and accounts direct input to the central office computer alone means little unless the information transmitted is accurate accuracy the most important element in the process is an individual responsibility a responsibility shared by everyone whether in a district office or in a central office or a payment center in fact processing post entitlement actions actions initiated by a steady flow of incoming notices both electronic and manual is the major workload in each payment center the payment center received these notices from many sources the Social Security district office or from a regional dispersing Center of the Treasury Department these are usually Social Security checks returned due to the death of a beneficiary or checks returned because a beneficiary moved and left no forwarding address still other notices come from the beneficiaries themselves or their representatives action in the payment center begins as soon as the day's mail is received in the receiving and files branch where thousands of envelopes are opened by machine correspondence and notices are sorted immediately to avoid delays prompt action on these notices depends greatly upon whether or not they are on the appropriate SSA form the reports on the proper forms are compatible for the key punching operation of the payment center direct input facility these are work notices sent in by beneficiaries these death notices received from funeral directors these school attendance forms for student beneficiaries sent in by schools or students and these annual earning reports these forms have been designed to expedite post entitlement actions although they do not have the personal appeal and urgency of written letters they do represent an individual or a member of his family who has a deep personal concern in the action to be taken for example this student attendance form concerns Ben Grayson this work notice concerns Helen Fraser and this one from Sam Nelson our retired beneficiary one of millions whose benefits are subject to change each month changes reported on these forms can be significantly expedited because the information is entered directly into the computer system about 1/2 of all notices received each year approximately 2 million notices are not on standardized SSA forms these notices require additional help because they must be routed to classifiers to determine the nature of the inquiry and the appropriate work station sometimes before a post entitlement action can be processed the data and the claims folder must be reviewed the claims folder is prepared and maintained by the payment center and contains all data related to the beneficiary's entitlement this is an initial claims folder its contents are basic this folder is typical of an account of many years duration on which numerous and complex post entitlement actions have been taken whenever a post entitlement action occurs additional data will be added to the folder to keep it up to date the filing and maintaining of folders is a large part of payment center operations each payment center maintains several million claims folders hundreds of thousands of these folders are always in inactive work status and may be any place within the payment center if a folder is needed it can be located by means of the case control system in this system a computer keeps track of every folder in the payment center by means of records on disks in every folder there is a case control punch card when a folder arrives at a workstation this card is inserted into the card reader this immediately informs the computer of the new location of this folder in addition this system can be alerted to hold certain folders that are wanted elsewhere in the payment center this occurs when the punch card from The Wanted folder is fed into a card reader any place in the payment center when this light goes on and a buzzer sounds the computer informs the clerk that this folder should be set aside for some special action although the case control system has greatly expedited payment center operations the physical handling and moving of hundreds of thousands of folders daily remains a huge and time-consuming task due to a large extent to the increasing workload of post entitlement actions increased use of direct input will reduce cumbersome movement of folders because it provides for the approval of some post entitlement actions without having to refer to the claims folder computer programs have been developed to handle by direct input actions such as change of address school attendance and notice of death personnel in the mailroom easily recognize these forms and send them to the direct input preparation section of the award processing branch here input examiner's check each notice for accuracy in an effort to avoid computer exceptions then may code the information for key punches and forward the coded information to the payment records processing branch here trained operators transfer this information to punch cards [Music] however operational changes are presently being considered which will almost entirely eliminate the punch card method of data input the changes will provide for keying data directly to magnetic tape from there to the computer with no need to keep unch this will do even more to expedite the processing of post entitlement actions here information from Ben's card is transferred to magnetic tape for high-speed transmission to a computer in the Bureau of data processing and Accounts Ben's benefits will be automatically terminated and the MB are updated finally a record of this action is transmitted back to the payment center now a computer printed letter of termination is produced it is then associated with Ben's folder and forwarded to the post entitlement branch for review after review the authorizer will approve the computer action release Ben's letter of termination and route the folder back to the receiving and files branch [Music] however most actions which require the attention of post entitlement authorizers do involve more extensive examination and review post entitlement authorizers are responsible for making determinations about the payment or stop payment of benefits as well as the amount of benefits payable and whether or not there has been under payment or overpayment their work can best be described as maintaining the continuity of benefit payments for millions ensuring that the cheque the beneficiary is expecting and depending upon arrives and arrives on time this is what makes the post entitlement branch one of the most important in the payment center Sam Nelson's claim couldn't be handled directly by a computer so here an authorizer examines Sam's folder to see if he is entitled to receive benefits again the authorizer will decide on the legality of this claim and then compute the amount of benefits due Sam realizing the importance of promptly resuming Sam's benefits the authorizer roots the claim for final processing [Music] although the resumption of benefits is always important to the individual the prompt suspension or termination of benefits which are no longer payable is also important this action may avoid an overpayment to the beneficiary for example the case of Helen Fraser whose benefits as a survivor are being suspended because of her return to work although this is a typical post entitlement action Helens notice is of the type that can be processed almost completely by EDP and will not even go into the post entitlement branch action will be initiated by direct input and a computer printed letter of suspension of benefits will be sent to Helen Helen is satisfied that Social Security has helped her through a difficult period of adjustment now that her benefits have been suspended Helen will not be inconvenienced by having to return checks to which she is not entitled [Music] reinstated as a retired beneficiary Sam Nelson once again receives his check on the other hand then graison is not satisfied with his notice from the payment center and decides to write dear Sirs in the letter i received today you state that my benefits topped as of last month because of my graduation from school however I wish to advise you that I actually attended school three days this month to complete some lab work now my question is this am I entitled to any benefits for those three days although I'm starting a good job soon I am now in desperate need of money to finish the school year upon receipt Ben's letter is read and immediately marked for special handling in the post entitlement branch an authorizer determines that Ben is entitled to one additional month's benefits forms are prepared to initiate this payment because of Ben's special situation is one check only payment is walked through for immediate processing and Ben's check within a few days is in the mail these three people our representative of the millions of individuals whose benefits are subject to change even if you recognize your building as a part of the Social Security Administration organization keep in mind that buildings do not process claims people do you do regardless of where you work as a result of the vital work that each of you performs you play an important role in the ever-changing lives of all the beneficiaries you are the backbone of the Social Security Administration the guardians of the public trust this film was produced to bring to your attention the significance of closed entitlement actions in the administration of the retirement and survivors insurance program and in our service to the public not only our post entitlement actions a continuing responsibility to the public they are also among the most important services we can provide for the public because people are subject to change when such a change affects a person's entitlement status it also affects us upon whom every beneficiary depends for prompt and equitable handling of post entitlement actions I'm confident that all of you will do your best to fulfill your individual responsibility thank you [Music]