As dedicated readers know, at Step 5 of the disability sequential evaluation, Social Security uses the Medical-Vocational Guidliness to determine disability. The guidelines, or “grids,” direct a finding of “disabled” or “not disabled” based upon a person’s age, physical RFC, education and past work/transferable skills.
If the medical-vocational guidlines direct a result of “disabled,”
Effective today, December 1, 2022, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FRCP”) have been amended to include Supplemental Rules for Social Security Civil Actions under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
According to NOSSCR’s email to its members, highlights of the new rules include:
Pleading Requirements for the Complaint
Under the new FRCP Rule 2, a complaint
When one of my clients is awarded disability benefits, I like to write a short letter to the local Social Security field office, asking them to quickly process the disability claim. I want the local office to send the claim promptly to the Social Security Payment Center for payment.
When the person awarded Social Security
The Social Security Processing Centers calculate and pay a claimant’s disability benefits, once a favorable decision or determination has been made.
The SSA has posted on its site the telephone numbers for the various processing centers. These numbers are for attorney and non-attorney Representatives to call, rather than individual disability claimants.
Disability cases are broken
When I see that a Social Security disability case has been closed, I review the ALJ decision online long before the paper copy arrives in the mail. For unfavorable decisions, of course you are looking at the reasoning of the decision, and for flaws that would support an appeal to the Appeals Council.
But it
We all lose a disability claim now and then. When the claim really should have been granted, the next step is drafting a Request for Review for the Appeals Council. Like most appeals of Social Security disability claims, there is a 60-day deadline for the appeal. But the best time to write a first draft
SSA has released the “waterfall” chart for fiscal year 2021.
The chart show what percentage of disability claims were granted and denied nationwide at each level of review:
Starting Thursday, April 7, the Social Security Administration will restore in-person services, including for “walk-ins” who do not have appointments, in their field offices.
This is great news for the general public.
Social Security has begun sending out Form SSA-4547, Advance Designation of Representative Payee, to certain disability claimants. I got a call last week from a client who received the form in the mail, and inferred that her Title II disability claim must have been granted at Reconsideration. But no. Her claim is still pending
Almost all the hospital groups now have patient portals, which give patients online access to their medical records, test results, upcoming appointments, and more.
When developing a disability claim, I find that I am asking clients more and more frequently to provide me with the user name and password for their patient portal account.