In its new report, Improving the Social Security Disability Decision Process: Interim Report, an IOM committee offers recommendations on the credentials that medical and psychological personnel who review case records should have, the training they need, and the compensation necessary to attract them.

The interim report also addresses training and certification requirements for medical experts who examine applicants at SSA's request, called consultative examiners, and criteria for presumptive disability, a procedure that provides immediate payments to low-income applicants who are likely to be approved when the formal decision process is completed.

A final report that addresses the Listing of Impairments, a screening tool that SSA uses to determine disability solely on medical grounds, will be released in 2006.