The Social Security Administration should have a goal to conduct 90 percent of its transactions online through self service, says a SSA advisory panel.

The Future Systems Technology Advisory Panel, chaired by Alan Balutis of Cisco Systems, issued in June a report that's now available online in which it states that online self service "appears to be the only solution that will enable SSA to process future transaction volumes."

Moreover, those transactions should be available to mobile devices, which the panel says will replace personal computers as the primary means of connection to the Internet.

Also, SSA should take a lead role in developing a national health information network and the adoption of electronic medical records. Such a network would allow better processing of disability claims through more ready access to information, the panel states.

Human intervention in a disability claim should be necessary only if a claim is denied, the panel states. The agency is already experimenting with doing so, it adds.

Moving to a mostly electronic self-service model shouldn't remove all human contact, notes the panel. It urges the agency to conduct disability hearings via video conferencing, even through a mobile device camera.

For more:
- download the June FSTAP panel report (.pdf)

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