Navigating the POMS. April 2014 VCU NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER

Transcription

1 Navigating the POMS April

2 Learning Objectives Upon completion of this training, participants will: Locate the POMS homepage and the POMS Table Of Contents on the Social Security website. Describe what the POMS is and identify categories of information that CWICs use to conduct research. Identify two strategies for searching the POMS when conducting research and describe the advantages and limitations of each strategy. Use the POMS to locate relevant information on issues being researched. 2

3 What is the POMS? POMS stands for Program Operations Manual System The POMS is a primary source of information used by Social Security employees to process claims for Social Security benefits. Procedures in the POMS are based on federal laws and regulations and are updated as these change. The public version of POMS is identical to the version used by Social Security employees except that it does not include internal data entry and sensitive content instructions. The POMS is not written for a lay audience it contains technical terms, acronyms, and instructions for Social Security employees. 3

4 Common Misunderstandings about Using the POMS I don t need to use the POMS everything I need to know is in the WIPA Manual. Using the POMS takes too much time - I can get a quicker answer by calling my VCU TA Liaison. I learned everything I need to know when I went through initial training and certification. 4

5 How do I get to the POMS? You can use the VCU website to get to the POMS by going here: You can go directly to the POMS Home Page at: 5

6 The POMS Homepage POMS Table of Contents - Links to each section of the POMS. POMS Recent Changes - Recent updates that have been incorporated into the POMS. The individual transmittals include background information and a summary of changes. Emergency Messages - Emergency changes to operations instructions for Social Security employees. 6

7 The POMS Homepage Chief Judge Bulletins - These bulletins provide information to Social Security employees involved in the hearings process. They may include such things as workload changes, system enhancements, or serve as notification of imminent or recently-approved revisions in the HALLEX (Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law Manual). They may also provide reminder items on a variety of topics. SSA Program Rules - This includes links to the Social Security laws, Federal regulations, the Social Security Handbook and other resources. 7

8 Let s take a look at the home page and the various links. 8

9 How the POMS is Organized The POMS is broken down into several layers. From largest to smallest they are: Part, Chapter, Subchapter, and Section. "Parts" are the top level categories you will see if you click "Table of Contents." They cover a number of broad subject areas. To view the "chapters" in a given part, click the blue triangular buttons to the left of the topic title. The list will expand, outline fashion, and you will see the names of the chapters in that part. Expand any chapter to view the subchapters, and the sections within that subchapter will appear. Click on the title of any section to view that section document. 9

10 Using the Table of Contents While viewing a section, you can return to the Table of Contents or page forward and back through the section documents. The "Expand" and "Collapse" buttons will either fullyexpand or fully-collapse the POMS Table of Contents. Be aware that POMS is rather large with more than 20,000 pages. Expand" will not be able to fit the entire TOC on one page. Use the "Next Page" and "Previous Page" buttons to move within the TOC. 10

11 The Parts of the POMS used by CWICs RM - Records Maintenance GN - General RS - Retirement and Survivors Insurance DI - Disability Insurance SI - Supplemental Security Income HI - Health Insurance NL - Notices, Letters and Paragraphs 11

12 Let s look at the SI and DI Parts to see how information is organized into chapters, subchapters, and sections. 12

13 Using the Search Function To perform a search, click the Search button and enter a few specific words you're looking for. Submit the search, and your results will be returned in a list. Click any title in the list to view the document, or modify the search by adding words, and rerun it. If your search produced no results, consider removing one or more words or simplifying your request. When you are viewing a document retrieved from a search results list, the "next" and "previous" page buttons in the document you view will move you to the next document in the results list, not the next document in the full POMS. 13

14 A Word about POMS Speak The POMS is written to help Social Security employees perform their day-to-day work. It is full of terms that CWICs are unfamiliar with. There are many acronyms used in the POMS that CWICs have not seen before. A list of the most common POMS acronyms was sent out with the training materials. This list is NOT all-inclusive! 14

15 A Word about POMS Speak The terms that Social Security uses to refer to concepts are not always intuitive to lay people. It takes experience using the POMS to understand POMS speak. You may need to alter the search terms several times before applicable citations are found. Get help from your VCU TA Liaison if you can t locate something after a few tries. 15

16 Let s look at some examples of using the search function to conduct research If at first you don t succeed, try, try again! 16

17 Some Things to Understand about the POMS The POMS does not specifically address every conceivable situation a beneficiary may experience. In general, the POMS describes broad rules and then delineates specific exceptions to those rules. CWICs will not always find citations that state exactly what they are looking for. 17

18 Some Things to Understand about the POMS In some cases a POMS citation may be interpreted in several different ways. When in doubt, contact your TA Liaison. Only Social Security can make policy determinations. VCU NTC staff will request determinations through OESP when needed to clarify policy. The POMS is updated on an ongoing basis and policies change over time. It is important to stay current. 18

19 What to do when the POMS reads like Greek Call your VCU TA Liaison. We can help you break down the citation and understand how to interpret it. Sometimes it helps to read the citations directly before and/or directly after the one that is confusing. This puts the citation in context. Understanding how Social Security defines specific terms is very important in understanding policy. Often the first citation in a subchapter will contain definitions of terms. Try following the links provided in the citation. These will take you to related citations that might provide background information. 19

20 Tips for using the POMS to Conduct Independent Research Start with the WIPA Manual. It is not always necessary to use the POMS to conduct research. Make sure you are looking in the correct sections. Policies which apply to Retirement & Survivor s benefits don t always apply to the DI or SSI programs. If you cannot find what you are looking for by using key word search, go back and use the table of contents and vice versa. 20

21 Tips for using the POMS to Conduct Independent Research Don t spend hours and hours trying to find something. If you can t locate the information you need within 30 minutes, stop and get help. Using the POMS to conduct independent research is a core competency for CWICs. The more you use the POMS the more efficient you will become at finding what you are looking for. 21