When the SSA reviews your initial disability claim, it obtains your medical records, and determines your residual functional capacity after analyzing those records. The problem with this approach is that the SSA does not obtain your doctor's opinion about your limitations. Rather, the SSA reviews your medical records and makes its own determination.
However, a
Until a few years ago, we all used to receive a Social Security statement in the mail each year. The statement contains a record of the earnings upon which you have paid Social Security taxes over the years, and an estimate of the benefits you may earn as a result.
To save money, these statements
Many clients make first contact with me after receiving a denial letter for an initial application for Social Security disability benefits. It is crucial to appeal the denial of your benefits right away.
After an appeal, the next step is Reconsideration. At Reconsideration the claim goes back to DDS, but gets assigned to a
I have a whole booklet about preparing your case for a Social Security disability hearing (you can download a pdf of the booklet for free). This post concerns preparing your testimony for the disability hearing.
You should expect to testify at your hearing, and that testimony can be critically important to your claim. One of
For several years, Social Security has had a list of medical conditions that qualify for compassionate allowances. If you have one of these diagnoses and have stopped working, then the SSA has an expedited process to establish disability.
In general, compassionate allowance claims are granted before a disability lawyer ever becomes involved. So it
Social Security is working on an updated version of its Best Practices for Representatives at the Appeals Council (link opens PDF of the new draft). This draft is much more extensive than the current version, and is worth reviewing.
Thanks to NADR for circulating this new draft. If you have comments on the draft
The latest average processing time statistics for Social Security hearing offices around the country were published in the October 2013 Social Security Forum, a newsletter for NOSSCR members.
The average processing time for the Portland, Maine hearing office is now 377 days, or just over a year. Remember, processing time runs from the date of
The key evidence for Social Security disability claims is often a medical source statement, which is an opinion from a treating physician (or other acceptable medical source) regarding the functional limitations resulting from your impairments. The doctor's actual progress notes usually do not have meaningful information regarding a patient's functional limitations (my clients
There is an interesting Practice Tip provided by Illiniois attorney Eric Schnaufer in the September 2013 Social Security Forum, a newsletter for NOSSCR members. Attorney Schnaufer suggests submitting a treating source's curriculum vitae (CV) to the disability claim file.
I think this is a great idea in certain cases. Some clients have treating specialists with
The staff at the Maine DDS office has been furloughed due to the federal government shutdown. The Portland Press Herald has the story.
DDS is the state agency that makes Social Security disability determinations at the initial and reconsideration levels of administrative review. Although DDS workers are technically state workers, the federal government reimburses