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How does failing to report doctor visits, hospital visits, and medical treatment affect your chances of being awarded disability benefits? Social Security medical decisions are made on the evidence contained in your disability file. Consequently it is very important for the success of your disability claim that the information contained within your disability file is current. Furthermore, you may disadvantage yourself by not reporting all medical treatment. Perhaps your condition has gotten much worse since your initial disability interview. The disability examiner has no way of knowing that your condition has worsened if they do not have access to medical information that was not included in the initial disability claim that was filed at your local social security office. If an individual fails to report doctor visits, hospital visits, and other medical treatment, they may find themselves attending a consultative examination, otherwise known as a social security medical examination. Generally, consultative examinations are hurried one-time examinations with a physician, who may not even be trained in the medical specialty that addresses your most significant disabling condition. Why are these exams so often a part of the disability determination system? Disability examiners are obligated to have current medical evidence which addresses an individual's medical impairments in the disability file when they make their disability determination. This means medical treatment within the past three months. If the records obtained by social security are older than three months, it is very likely that a physical consultative exam or a mental disability examination will be scheduled. In summary, if you do not report current doctor visits, hospital visits, or other medical treatment, you may disadvantage your disability claim. In fact, not reporting current medical sources may result in your disability claim being denied. In most cases, an individual’s current treatment notes with their own physicians are a better indicator of their limitations than a one time consultative examination performed by a physician who has never treated you and has been paid by the Social Security Administration. 
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