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Measuring Functional Capacity and Work Requirements Summary of a Workshop (1999) / Chapter Skim
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7 Recurring Themes and Issues
Pages 85-88

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From page 85...
... The purpose of SSA's disability programs is not to deliver services but to provide monthly cash benefits to replace part of earnings lost because of severe medical impairments that make individuals unable to work for a long time. SSA has to make millions of decisions every year on disability benefits.
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From page 86...
... The conditions of disability change over time, as do the skills and demands of work in the labor market. Therefore, when functional capacity measures are developed and their ability to measure the characteristics of functioning determined, it is important to distinguish between measures currently configured around the traditional physical, psychological, and social functioning dimensions and something as hard to assess as the ability to keep up with constant change in the workplace.
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From page 87...
... Several participants felt that the workshop did not adequately address issues such as discrimination and the broader influence of environment; at the same time, they recognized that those issues are not germane to implementing Titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act for disability benefits. MEDICAL LISTINGS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS Efforts to shift SSA's assessment model away from the medical evidence to focus more on functional assessment are viewed by some with caution.
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From page 88...
... One of the primary criteria of this second assessment is the person's motivation to return to work. CONCLUDING COMMENTS The committee's mandate includes the examination of the results of research by SSA relating to the disability decision process, including research on functional assessment instruments for the planned DES.
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Key Terms

  • functional assessment
  • decision process
  • disability decision
  • cash benefits
  • disability benefits

  • recurring themes
  • work requirements
  • disability programs
  • process research
  • monthly cash

  • ssa disability
  • private programs
  • function reflects
  • complex issues
  • carefully appraised

  • delivering services
  • individuals unable
  • disability evaluation
  • current disability
  • partial benefits

  • questions override
  • functioning determined
  • social functioning
  • labor demands
  • committee set

  • ssa relating
  • disentangling functional
  • surfaced throughout
  • assistive technology
  • traditional physical


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