Federal Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled; Administrative Review Process; Video Teleconferencing Appearances Before Administrative Law Judges of the Social Security Administration

We are revising our rules to allow us to conduct hearings before administrative law judges (ALJs) at which a party or parties to the hearing and/or a witness or witnesses may appear before the ALJ by video teleconferencing (VTC). The revised rules provide that if we schedule your hearing as one at which you would appear by VTC, rather than in person, and you object to use of that procedure, we will reschedule your hearing as one at which you may appear in person before the ALJ. These revisions will provide us with greater flexibility in scheduling and holding hearings, improve hearing process efficiency, and extend another service delivery option to individuals requesting a hearing. Although we are issuing these rules as final rules, we are also requesting comments on a provision of the rules that involves a significant change from the proposed rules we previously published concerning our use of VTC.