The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #42088

Gooloo S. Wunderlich, PhD, Institute of Medicine, NAS, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room FO-3099, Washington D.C., DC 20418, 202-334-1321, GWUNDERL@NAS.edu

Social Security Administration (SSA) has undertaken a new data collection effort designed to measure persons with work disabilities in the United States. The survey, entitled the National Study of Health and Activity, is a complex design, incorporating telephone and personal interviews as well as medical examinations, medical records and a simulation of SSA's disability determination process. At the same time SSA initiated a major initiative to redesign the way it determines program eligibility. As part of the undertaking, the SSA commissioned the Institute of Medicine and the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences to provide an independent review of the method, study design, and procedures and the research associated with improving the Disability Determination Process. The committee has concluded its work with the publication of its final report, "The Dynamics of Disability: Measuring and Monitoring Disability for Social Security Programs." This session will provide a commentary on the findings and recommendation from that report. It will also include a discussion from those directly involved in the national study as well as other disability researchers, discussing the ramifications of the SSA study for the measurement of persons with disabilities via the survey process in the Federal statistical system and for improving the determination process.

Learning Objectives:

• Survey methods issues for statisticians. Planning a major national survey to measure complex concepts. Disability programs and SSA's methods for deciding a persons eligibility for benefits.

Keywords: Disability Policy, Statistics