Health Information Technology (Health IT)

Our Initiative

What is Health IT at Social Security?

Health Information Technology (Health IT) at Social Security is a program that brings the speed and power of electronic medical records to the disability determination process. When a person applies for disability benefits, we must obtain and review a complete medical record to make an accurate determination. It can take months for health care organizations to provide records for the claimant's case. With electronic records transmission, we can quickly obtain a claimant's medical record, review it, and make a determination. For claimants who are found to have a disability, this means they get the help they need faster. Our health care organization partners benefit through cost reduction, streamlined operations, and being leaders in the use of health IT.

Why Get Involved?

Social Security pays benefits to more than 70 million beneficiaries. Many more have applied and await a determination. Our Health IT program helps adjudicators make quicker decisions. This reduces the wait-time applicants face before getting benefits and medical coverage.

It's Good for Our Partners.

Partnering with Social Security offers health care organizations the potential to reduce costs related to the uncompensated care they provide. Electronic records transmission assists in more timely disability determinations, helping claimants gain quicker access to public health benefits. By streamlining the medical records request process, partners can re-direct resources from time-intensive paper requests for information to patient care. Partners can save on printing, paper, and postage expenses as well as health information management labor costs.

Is My Organization Eligible?

We partner with a variety of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), vendor networks, hospitals, and other qualified health care organizations. If your organization is interested in learning more or partnering with us, we want to hear from you!

What's Next?

Check out our Partners page to see what organizations are working with us.

To learn more about SSA's experience in health IT, review Our Expertise.

Ready to move forward? Visit Getting Started.