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DDS Launches eDib

Two men and a woman pose
Christine Fluke, Bill Beach and Vernon Joyner, DDS examiners, were among the 150+ people who celebrated the beginning of DDS’s new electronic case processing system.

The Maryland Disability Determination Services (DDS) recently celebrated the launch of an electronic case processing system that revolutionizes the agency’s claims handling processes and promises to deliver faster decisions about Social Security disability claims. (The DDS reviews claims filed by Maryland citizens for Social Security disability benefits.) The event took place at the Workforce & Technology Center on March 22, 2005 and featured a lively mix of skits and panel discussions designed to highlight the new process, known as "eDib."

An auditorium audience applauds
DDS audience was treated to skits, refreshments and a chance to ask questions about becoming a fully electronic office.

The celebration followed several years of intense planning by the DDS, which previously handled paperwork for more than 60,000 claims folders a year. The Maryland DDS, located in Timonium, will become an electronic office whose staff or contractors will scan, e-mail or transmit via secure website the medical and educational records needed for review by DDS examiners and physicians.

To highlight the dramatic changes and to prepare DDS staff, event planners balanced a light-hearted skit about Social Security Administration (SSA) and DDS history with  question and answer sessions.   

Three women and a man pose at the front of the auditorium
Diane Kistler (Medical Relations Program Manager), Jeanne Gettier (Data Processing Assistant Director), Natalie Morganstein (Security/Policy Officer) and George Albright, M.D. (Chief Medical Advisor) fielded questions from the DDS staff about details of a fully electronic office.

After a welcome by the DDS Director, Kathi Thompson, the WTC stage curtain opened to DDS staff that reenacted FDR’s historic signing of the Social Security law in August, 1935. Other skits recalled the fashions, music and news of ensuing years that led up to eDib, the most recent major development in SSA and DDS history. 

President Roosevelt's signing of the Social Security Act is reenacted
The DDS staff now knows more about SSA history, thanks to a series of skits that included a reenactment of FDR signing the Social Security Act.

 "eDib brings greater accuracy, consistency and security to decision making," says Kathi Thompson, DDS Director. "The Maryland DDS is proud to be in the forefront of improvements to disability case processing system."

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Division of Rehabilitation Services • 2301 Argonne Drive • Baltimore, MD 21218 • 410-554-9442 • 888-554-0334
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