These final rules extend the time period set out in our regulations during which attorney advisors in our Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) may conduct certain prehearing proceedings and, where the documentary record developed as a result of these proceedings warrants, issue decisions that are wholly favorable to the parties to the hearing in claims for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits based on disability. We are extending the date at which these rules will no longer be effective from July 1, 1998, until April 1, 1999.