In January, Social Security added claims at Initial and Reconsideration to its status report in Electronic Records Express (ERE). After 5 months using this additional feature, I have found it to be hugely helpful. It is a marked improvement for those of us managing Social Security disability claims.

Social Security has now added more data to this report. A Representative can now download an Excel spreadsheet that provides additional information, including:

• Case level (Initial or Reconsideration)
• Receipt date (date received at DDS)
• First date assigned to an adjuster
• Closure date
• Federal Quality Review (FQR) start date

This is a terrific update. You can now see at a glance if the case has been received by DDS, assigned to a disability examiner, if it was closed and when, and if it was sent to Federal Quality Review. Each one of these items previously required a telephone call to the field office or to DDS to determine status.

2/14/2025 Update: The Federal Quality Review function of the spreadsheet has not been working in recent months. The spreadsheet used to provide the date for FQR, and then tha date would disappear from the spreadsheet when the FQR finished, which was a signal that a determination had been finalized.

That feature is no longer working, and it is necessary once again to call the local office to determine status.