Increase SSI/SSDI Approval Rates
updates
Welcome
| COVID-19 RESOURCES FOR SOAR PROVIDERS |
SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is a national program designed to increase access to the disability income benefit programs administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for eligible adults and children who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a serious mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.
Watch the video below and then read more about SOAR!
Recent Questions About SOAR
Q: Am I allowed to disclose mental health treatment and counseling records to SSA?
A.
Mental health treatment records are a necessary and integral part of the evidence needed for DDS to make a disability determination for someone alleging mental illness as an impairment. You are permitted and encouraged to support a claimant’s application with the disclosure of your records (with...
Q: What is a SOAR Application?
A.
The SAMHSA SOAR TA Center considers a "SOAR application" to be one in which all (or most) of the SOAR critical components are done. These include serving as the person's representative with the SSA-1696, collecting medical records and writing a Medical Summary Report documenting the person's...
Q: If an applicant wants to "fire" their attorney, will they have to pay them a fee?
A.
Generally when an attorney is fired after the individual has signed the SSA-1696 (and possibly other binding documents with the attorney), the attorney has to file a fee petition with SSA defending their right to be paid. The attorney/representative must detail what services were performed while...
Q: Is there a sample MSR for adults with a physical disability?
A.
Many of our sample MSRs include information about physical disabilities in addition to mental impairments. Here is an example of one. We also encourage you to review the Listings for the specific criteria SSA will be looking for, for each condition. You'll want to include information in your MSR...