Social Security calls their disability entitlement re-evaluations continuing disability reviews (CDR). As you can see by the name, these re-evaluations will occur periodically for all individuals who receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability.
By and large, most disability claimants who are re-evaluated for continuing disability benefits are allowed to keep their disability benefits. So now you may be wondering, what could cause an individual to "fail" their Social Security disability re-evaluation?
Evidence supporting medical improvement is generally what causes an individual to "fail" their CDR. There are a couple of situations which may indicate that an individual has had medical improvement. Social Security could determine an individual has medically improved after reviewing medical records or they could say an individual has had medical improvement if they have returned to regular employment.
As I said before, most disability beneficiaries continue to receive their disability benefits after their continuing disability review. Most individuals with impairments serious enough to be approved for disability in the first place do not medically improve, nor do they return to regular employment. However, if an individual was approved for disability benefits based upon some type of injury or medical condition in which improvement was likely, their disability benefits may possibly not be continued. It just depends upon your impairment, the likelihood of medical improvement, and if your have returned to regular work activity.
So what happens at a CDR or disability re-evaluation? Social Security does not necessarily require a face-to-face interview to process a continuing disability review, however some Social Security claims representatives prefer to conduct face-to-face reviews rather than mail in or telephone interviews.
Whatever the method of contact, you will have to complete a disability update form and sign medical release forms, then your disability file will sent to the state disability agency for a disability review.
