2006-2008 PMU Initiatives

The Social Security Administration (SSA) awarded AUCD a contract to further the Agency's efforts to improve the childhood disability determination process ensuring that the best decisions are made as efficiently and as early as possible for childhood disability adjudications. Through its two-year contract, that recently concluded, AUCD worked with selected member University Centers to develop, test and operate prototypes of Pediatric Medical Units (PMUs) to provide specialized clinical expertise to state and/or federal adjudicators to help them make initial decisions for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications or to review cases on appeal.

Selected Centers provided clinical support and expertise to help state and/or federal adjudicators adjudicate some, but not all, of their childhood SSI cases. Each PMU provided pediatric expertise to disability adjudicators by explaining, clarifying or, in a limited number of cases, obtaining additional medical information.

Selected Locations to Work with SSA

The first two PMUs began receiving case referrals from state Disability Determination Service (DDS) offices in fall 2006:

• Center for Disabilities and Development, Iowa's University Center for Excellence on Disabilities, University of Iowa
• Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities, University of Tennessee Health Science Center

Two other PMUs, designated to review childhood cases on appeal to Administrative Law Judges, began receiving referrals in July 2007:

• University of Washington LEND Program, Center on Human Development and Disability, University of Washington
• Institute for Community Inclusion/UCEDD and Children's Hospital, University of Massachusetts

Four additional PMU locations were selected in January 2007 and began receiving referrals in summer 2007:

• JFK Partners, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver CO
• Mailman Center for Child Development, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
• Institute on Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois UCE, Chicago, IL
• Nisonger Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

AUCD believes that the first year of the PMU initiative was very successful. We gained important insights - Link to Lessons Learned from Year One.

More information about second year activities and final project initiatives will be added in the future.