Disability application procedures

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June 27, 2009

News from the San Francisco Social Secuirty field offices

Posted by Geri Kahn under Disability application procedures, Health, SSDI, SSI | Tags: |
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Yesterday, at our monthly meeting of Social Security disability attorneys and claimants’ representatives, we had two district managers from the Social Security Administration’s San Francisco field offices come and speak to us. Both of them offered a dim picture of what is happening locally. Essentially, they are seeing more claimants at the field offices and they are overwhelmed. Each office sees about 300-400 people a day. They do not have the staffing to serve all the people they see. While they are hiring additional staff, they informed us that it really takes about three years for a new hire to learn the job. Many of the people they serve are not native English speakers and the language barrier makes it more difficult to communicate with the claimants.

The district managers encouraged us to file online as much as possible because it makes their jobs easier. Initial claims for SSDI can be filed online. Requests for reconsideration and Requests for a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) may be filed online for both SSI and SSDI. (Ironically I just had a look at their website and their online filing system is down.)

They warned us against faxing documents in and mailing a duplicate set in. They told us to choose one or the other. One attorney mentioned that he mails and faxes because he does not receive a confirmation by Social Security that they have received the material. Both managers agreed that if we were to prepare a form receipt for a Social Security employee to fax back, they would start using it. Their advice was to begin including a receipt with anything we send in. The receipt should have a space on it for the Social Security employee to sign and date. Of course, the receipt should contain a fax number on it so that the employee knows where to send it. I will be curious to see if this works. I send everything certified mail so I already feel confident that my materials have been received. Nevertheless, the receipt is a good idea and I will try it out.

All in all it was a productive meeting and I gained some insight into the inner workings at the Social Security field offices. Hopefully the field office managers also benefited by hearing some of our concerns.

 

March 21, 2009

What holds up the processing of your disability case?

Posted by Geri Kahn under Disability application procedures, Health, SSDI, SSI, Social Security Disability Law
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medical-records

I was recently reading some other blogs and came across a website and blog by Tim Moore, a former disability adjudicator who used to work for the Social Security Administration.  Mr. Moore is now in private practice, a non-attorney accredited representative.  He has an extensive website and blog.  One of the questions he addresses  on his website is, “What Holds Up the Processing of a Social Security Disability or SSI Claim?” He answers by stating that what often delays the processing is that the Social Security Administration is waiting to receive the claimant’s medical records.  Even though they order them as soon as the claim has been filed, the medical providers often take time to respond.  He notes that it is sometimes best for the claimant to provide the records to the Social Security Administration so that the time waiting may be reduced.

Before filing a new initial claim I always order the records and then submit them directly to the Social Security field office immediately after I have filed the claim electronically.  I recently though was at an interview in one of the field offices in San Francisco and the claims representative told me that he could not accept the records I was submitting because he was only permitted to fax 15 pages to the state agency disability  examiner.  I tried my best to smile and politely replied that perhaps he could mail them to the state agency.  I suspect that the claim will be denied initially (as most are) and eventually when it gets to the hearing stage,  I will be able to review the file and see if he actually submitted the records.   I hope that at least by submitting the records at the outset, the case will proceed to a hearing faster than perhaps it would otherwise.