Social Security Disability Questions

You'll find answers to your questions about when to apply for SSDI or SSI, why your application was denied, which conditions will be approved, how much you'll get in disability benefits, how working affects your benefits, and more here.

The information in your medical records that is current, accurate, and adequate is required by Social Security. What does this imply?

In accordance with "acceptable medical sources," accurate records accurately describe your condition. Doctors, osteopaths, nurse practitioners, and, in some instances, licensed psychologists, audiologists, and optometrists are all considered acceptable medical sources.

Also, your doctor's medical opinion won't be taken seriously by Social Security if the agency has objective evidence that contradicts it. For instance, Social Security will reject your doctor's opinion if your records show that you can only walk one block because of chest pain, but specific exercise testing shows that you can do much more exercise.

The SSA can make an independent medical determination regarding the nature and severity of your medical condition if adequate medical records contain sufficient accurate information from acceptable medical sources. For instance, having only a doctor's note with a cancer diagnosis and allegation is not sufficient. The SSA will be interested in:

• - Did a biopsy demonstrate the presence of cancer?
  
• - Is there a specific kind of cancer?
• - Where exactly is the cancer located?
• - When did the first signs appear?
• - What did an examination of the body reveal?
• - What did X-beams and other imaging tests show?
• - What did the blood test reveal?
• - Have you had any surgery?
• - Was all of the cancer removed during the surgery?
• - Have you undergone chemotherapy?
• - If any, what were the effects of the chemotherapy on you?
• - Have you had radiation treatment?
• - What effects did the radiation therapy have?

The information in your current medical records is current enough to be relevant. Depending on the disorder, medical judgment determines how recent. A condition that is rapidly evolving requires more current information than one that has progressed slowly or remained the same for years. The Social Security Administration (SSA) prefers to see records that are no older than six months, though they may request treatment notes from doctors that are no older than three or four months for certain conditions. This does not imply that older records are irrelevant. The big picture of the medical field might be provided by records from many years ago.

Typed medical records from your doctor that include information about all of your complaints, examination results, the treatment you received, how you responded to it, and future plans and a prognosis are the best records for disability.

"Medical source statements" from your treating doctor are typically the medical records with the most weight with Social Security. Your doctor can easily inform the SSA of your symptoms and limitations using RFC forms.

If you are aware that you do not have sufficient medical evidence, you might be interested in learning how a disability attorney can create the medical evidence that will be most beneficial to your case.

Social Security will take into account any and all of your disability claims-relevant medical records and medical conditions. Important records will be records that cover the timeframe you're guaranteeing you've been incapacitated. Unless the condition improves, the time period begins with your "alleged onset date" (AOD) and continues. See our article on impairments that improve before a hearing for more information.

For instance, if you inform Social Security that your onset date is January 1, 2019, you are stating to them that you were unable to work as of that date; this is the "start date" of your disability, also known as your AOD. You need to have medical records going back that far in order to be considered disabled as of the date of your AOD. Social Security will examine the medical records, even if they are several years old.

Medical records that are scribbled and unreadable, as well as those that do not contain significant information about your condition, cannot be evaluated by the SSA.

Unfortunately, Social Security cannot make a disability determination based on the information in many records.

For instance, You must have had a certain number of seizures during a specific time period in order to be eligible for an epilepsy-based disability, and your medical records must include a description of a typical seizure. However, even neurologists who specialize in treating epileptics frequently fail to record a patient's number of seizures between visits, even though they should in the event that a medication adjustment is required. Even though they will note the kind of seizure that occurred and the medications that were administered, doctors rarely go into great detail about a seizure in their records. The SSA needs a number of other things from your medical records in order to assess the severity of your epilepsy, such as your willingness to take your medication and the levels of the drugs used to treat it.