MEDICAL TREATMENT AND DISABILITY

The most important information that the Social Security Administration considers when deciding whether you qualify for Disability benefits are the medical records created by the doctors who are treating you for your injury or illness. Documenting Disability: Simple Strategies for Medical Providers tell us:

"Two basic strategies are recommended to support applications for disability assistance:

1. Refer explicitly to medical criteria for disability specified in the Social Security Administration's Listing of Impairments.

2. For patients whose impairments do not meet or equal the level of severity specified in a medical Listing, document activities the patient can and cannot do. This strategy is most effectively accomplished in collaboration with a multidisciplinary clinical team that includes a social worker and/or vocational counselor."

The best thing that you can do to support your claim for Disability benefits is to get a report from your treating physician explaining how your medical condition closely matches one of the Listing of Impairment outlined below.

The second best thing you can do is to ask your treating doctor to fill out a "Residual Functional Capacity Assessment" (physical or mental) that explains your diagnosis and limitations. 

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