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I've referenced the term treating physician on a number of occasions with regard to social security disability and SSI. But what is a treating physician? Basically, here it is. The Social Security Administration defines a treating physician as the following: someone who provides (or in the past has provided) medical treatment or an evaluation and has, or has had in the past, an ongoing relationship with you. Basically, there needs to be a history of treatment between the medical provider and the patient, in the eyes of the social security administration, for the medical provider to be considered a treating physician. What is so important about treating physicians, you may wonder? Well, in principle the opinion of a treating physician is given weight at a social security disability or SSI disability hearing by an administrative law judge. And this is quite logical since a disability claimant's treating physician would be in the position of being able to render an informed and valid opinion regarding an individual's prognosis and functional outlook. Of course, this may not always happen in reality. There's a wide gulf between principle and reality and disability judges have been known to completely disregard the opinion of a treating physician. However, having said that, many disability judges will give substantial weight to the opinions of a treating physician, i.e. a doctor who has a history of providing you treatment. And it is for this very reason that a claimant should not "bounce around from one doctor to the next". Because, as far as the social security adminisration is concerned, a doctor with whom you do not have an established history cannot be defined as a "treating physician". And, as a consequence, the medical information they provide to social security may not hold as much weight. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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