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There are really a number of different factors that can hold up the processing of a social security disability or SSI claim. Very often, cases are held up by the mere fact that the social security disability system (including SSI) is backlogged with too many cases, i.e. not enough workers to handle the number of cases that need to be processed. And, in some instances, what holds up processing are errors: files that have been misplaced, paperwork that has been lost, etc. However, in most instances, what holds up the processing of disability claims is something that decision makers (disability examiners and disability judges) have no control over. And that is the wait for medical records. After an individual files for disability at a local social security office, their disability application is sent to a state agency and assigned to a disability examiner (also called a disability specialist). This individual is responsible for requesting a claimant's medical records and, after the records have been received, is further responsible for making a decision on a disability case. A disability examiner will actually request a claimant's medical records fairly quick. Usually, this is done on the same day that the social security disability or SSI case is assigned to the examiner. In other words, very soon after an examiner is assigned a person's case, the examiner will send "medical record request letters" to every single doctor, hospital, and clinic that has been notated on the disability application. Unfortunately, however, even though disability examiners are fairly quick to request a disability claimant's records, doctors and hospitals are not quick when it comes to processing medical record requests, which holds up, in a severe way, the processing of a social security disability or SSI claim. In fact, it is unusual for a medical provider to take months to respond to a disability examiner's request for record. For this reason, it is, on occasion, not a bad idea for a disability applicant to actually get the records themselves and submit them with their application for disability. 
Social Security Disability and SSI Disability Information
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