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Most individuals who file for either social security disability benefits or SSI disability benefits will, unfortunately, be denied on their initial application. This, of course, will force them to consider whether or not they wish to simply give up on their case, start over with filing a new application, or begin the appeal process. Though there are a few situations in which it may make sense to do a new social security disability or SSI application, in most cases it will make much more sense to go through the appeals process. And going through the appeals process will (for the majority of claim applicants) mean that you will oneday find yourself in front of a judge at a disability hearing (though, this may take a long number of months before you actually get a hearing after you've requested one). Knowing that their claim will oneday be heard by a federal judge will typically cause one thought to appear in a claimant's mind, which is "How do I prepare for a disability hearing?". The simple answer, of course, is: as thoroughly as you can. However, what does it mean to prepare for a disability hearing. Well, to understand what should be done to prepare a case for a hearing, it would probably be helpful to know what the social security administration will not do to prepare your case before a hearing is held. In most instances, the social security administration will NOT gather additional records on your behalf. Don't they gather records when they evaluate your claim?, you may ask. Yes, when a case is at DDS, or disability determination services (in some states, this agency is known as the bureau of disability determination), all of your medical records will be gathered and formally reviewed. However...when your case file is transferred to the Office of Hearings and Appeals---where it will usually sit and wait for many months before it is actually assigned to a judge and then scheduled for a hearing---all development will typically stop. That is, no records will be gathered on your behalf and no additional review work will be done. Yes, in a handful of cases a staff attorney who is assigned to an OHA (office of hearings and appeals) may review a file and decide to develop a case further (get additional medical records) in an attempt to gain an approval with an "on the record review". But this does not happen very often. So, what does happen to most files that are "sitting" at the office of hearings and appeals? Answer: they sit and wait until, at some point, they are assigned to a judge and scheduled. Then, on the day the hearing is set for, the claimant will appear before the judge who will decide their claim based on the evidence contained in the file. And that's really the catch. Because if the newest records in the file at that point are many months old (which would be the case if the last records that were gathered were the ones requested by DDS many moons ago), it will be nearly impossible to get approved for SSDI (social security disability insurance) or SSI. So, what do you need to do to prepare for a hearing? The most important aspect of hearing preparation will be to gather additional medical records, to ensure that when the hearing date arrives you have your most recent records in the file and that a giant gap doesn't exist in your medical documentation. And in most cases, this is how you should go about getting your updated records. As soon as you become aware that your hearing has been scheduled (the office of hearings and appeals is obligated to give you at least 20 days advance notice, but, very often, will give you at least 30 days notice prior to your hearing), you should request your records from all of your medical providers and once you receive these records you should 1. keep a copy for yourself and 2. submit copies of these records to whichever administrative law judge has been assigned to hear your case. Should you simply request ALL your medical records and send them in to the hearing office? You can, but this will obviously mean some degree of duplication. To avoid duplication, however, you can take the opportunity to review your file (you are allowed to do this) and find out where the social security administration left off; that is, the dates of the last records they requested and added to your file. By doing this, you can significantly narrow the time-frame for the records you need to request yourself (and this may significantly reduce your cost as well, since many medical providers will charge you for copying costs). Another method of preparing for a disability hearing, of course, is to get supportive statements from the doctors who have treated you in the past. And by this, we don't mean short notes that state "my patient is disabled and unable to work". To be effective, letters from your personal doctors should be detailed and should explain why you cannot work; in other words, this sort of statement should make reference to your functional limitations (e.g., unable to sit or stand longer than 20 minutes, unable to lift more than 20 lbs. frequently, etc, etc.). However, having said all this, claimants who are represented by a disability attorney should themselves have to do little more than simply arrive at a scheduled hearing date since, typically, a competent disability attorney will do the following: 1. review a claimant's social security file (usually, an attorney will obtain a copy of the file). 2. determine which medical record updates should be obtained and then gather them. 3. keep copies of records obtained and submit copies of such records to the administrative law judge assigned to the case. 4. attempt to gather detailed, supporting statements from a claimant's treating physicians and, when gathered, send copies of these to the administrative law judge. 5. thoroughly review a claimant's social security file and medical records. 6. prepare and deliver necessary advice and instructions to a claimant prior to a hearing. 7. show up at the hearing and articulate to the judge why the claimant should be awarded either social security disability or SSI benefits---based on social security regulations and a review of the claimant's medical records. Disability Advocates Help with Claims Free Case Evaluation The backpayment from social security for a disability case What should you do if you get a disability denial? Disability benefits, garnishments, and divorce |
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SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY SSI LAWYERS ATTORNEYS ANSWERS TO YOUR SSDI & SSI QUESTIONS PAGE 3 ANSWERS TO YOUR SSDI & SSI QUESTIONS PAGE 4 |
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If you suffer from a medical disability such as hip, neck, shoulder, ankle, wrist, back, or other joint problems, disc herniation, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, carpal tunnel syndrome, rsi or repetetive stress injury, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, arthritis, dysthymia, depression or other mood disorders, congestive or chronic heart failure, type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, diabetic neuropathy, high blood pressure (hypertension), seizure disorder, stroke, copd, emphysema, hearing loss or poor hearing, statutory blindness, peripheral field problems or other vision loss, clinical obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity or, simply, adhd, bipolar disorder or manic depression, panic disorder, schizophrenia, autism, head trauma, memory loss, low iq, mental retardation, learning disability, epilepsy, cancer, chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, lupus, anxiety, inner ear problems, meniere's, vertigo or dizziness, kidney failure requiring dialysis or other renal problems, cirrhosis, hepatitis, or other liver disease, pancreatitis, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, rsd or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, crohn's disease, sarcoidosis, peripheral vascular disease, lyme disease, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, hiv, aids, anemia, sickle cell, thyroid problems including hypothyroidism, esrd or end stage renal disease, reflux, gerd (gastroesophageal reflux disease), cfids, muscular dystrophy, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, or tachycardia, bradycardia or other arrhythmia and have initiated or been denied on a social security disability, or ssi, claim for benefits, this site may assist you with your case. Social Security Disability benefits are often difficult to win; however many claims for social security disability are lost simply because a claimant did not know enough about the disability process to their social security or ssi claim. For information re: representation on a social security disability or ssi claim (attorney or non attorney representative), see the "questions" & "how" pages. |
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