What The SSDI Needs from Your Doctor
The SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance is a tightly regulated and very specific agency that handles disability claims. What the SSDI needs from your doctor before they are able to move forward in processing an application is fairly straightforward:
- Medical records from the doctors who have specifically treated your disabling condition. While some outside informatory records may be helpful in decoding your exact condition, for the most part the SSDI needs to see only the information that pertains directly to the disability you are applying for aid for.
- Do not provide irrelevant records that will muddy the waters of your claim. If it doesn’t directly pertain to your disability, then adding paperwork to the mountain of things for the examiner to go through will only delay the process and have you waiting far longer than you would hope to have your aid. Omit anything that is not of relevance to your situation.
- The medical records they need are very specific to your case. For instance, certain disabilities will require things such as x-rays and other scans of sorts. Physical cases often require a physical therapy outline in detail made by a physician while mental illness will require things such as a detailed medicinal list including dosage amounts, a doctors statement of compliance, and any side effects.
- Details for your disability such as (physically speaking in regards to the type of disability) how much you can lift or what environmental restrictions you may have are important to include as well.
- They also want to see a special physician’s statement in regards to alcohol and drug use because in some cases, your condition could remedy itself if you were to stop using said ailments. If this is so, they will more than likely deny your claim (this does not include medicine prescribed by a physician).
Regardless of how well you believe you understand the process, it never hurts to consult an attorney for help as well. An experienced disability attorney will be able to help you to figure out what type of records and information you need to disclose as well as help you to navigate and negotiate so that you will be successful in winning your claim.
