Net Accuracy Rates Overview
The Social Security Administration assures the quality of initial State determinations to allow or deny disability benefits by reviewing random samples of each State's allowances and denials. The samples are designed to produce accuracy rate estimates in which one can be confident that 95 percent of all samples of a similar size will produce an accuracy rate estimate that is within 5 percentage points of the true accuracy rate that would be obtained if all allowances and denials were reviewed.
A disability determination is considered accurate when the evidence documented in the file is sufficient to determine disability and when that determination is consistent with the evidence and with the decision rules in the Federal Regulations and operating policies and procedures. When the Social Security Administration finds that a State disability determination is deficient, the case is returned to the State with a note that describes the deficiency and refers to the applicable operating rule or procedure. When deficiencies are corrected, new evidence and reevaluation of the cases often require preparation of different decisions.
Net Accuracy is the percentage of correct initial State disability determinations. The net accuracy rate is based on the net error rate, which is defined as the number of corrected deficient cases with changed disability decisions plus the number of deficient cases that are not corrected within 90 days from the end of the calendar quarter, divided by the number of cases reviewed.