FAQ

You shouldn’t worry too much about Step 2. DDS uses this step to weed out frivolous claims. At the second step, SSA considers the medical severity of an individual’ impairment(s), e.g.) health problems. An individual must have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, (or a combination of impairments) that is severe and meet the duration requirement. To be severe, an impairment or impairments must interfere with basic work-related activities. To meet the duration requirement the impairment(s) must be expected to last twelve months or to result in death. If the impairment(s) are not severe or do not meet the duration requirement, the individual is found not disabled. If the impairment(s) are severe and meet the duration requirement, the adjudicator goes to question three.

Since Fibromyalgia is not a listed impairment, SSA offers guidance for how to evaluate. Here is the link- https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/di/01/SSR2012-02-di-01.html

You can obtain valuable insight into the reason an applicant was previously denied by reviewing the applicant’s electronic folder, or at minimum, obtaining the “Disability Determination Explanation” or denial notice. Most likely, you will have easy access to the denial notice from the applicant or, if you are the authorized representative, SSA should have mailed a copy to you. You can also request reason for denial by contacting your local SSA office. Learn more at Reviewing Denial Notices.

We recommend contacting the DDS examiner assigned to the case to find out where they are in the decision making process. If they have just been assigned the case and are starting to process it, then you have time to write and submit a Medical Summary Report. You could let the DDS examiner know that you have additional evidence to submit. If you do not have an SSA-1696 on file, the claimant will need to be with you when you call. 

When you log-in to the SOAR website, go to your Profile page.  There, you will see a link to access the Certificate of Completion that was e-mailed to you when you passed the course.

• The appeal must be filed within 60 days of receipt of the initial denial notice.
• The applicant must submit the following forms:
  • SSA-561: Request for Reconsideration
  • SSA-3441: Disability Report- Appeal
  • SSA-827: Authorization to Disclose Information to SSA
• Additional medical records and evidence can be submitted
• The application will be assigned to a different disability examiner and reviewing physician at DDS

No answers to this question exist yet.

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 about how the person's conditions meet the listing criteria. 

If the individual doesn’t have a residential address, you can answer “No.” You will be asked for some demographic information and then you can continue the account creation process.

Our "Creating a my Social Security Account for Applicants Flowchart" may also be helpful. That can be found on our SOAR Tools & Worksheets page.

Note that when you are assisting someone to apply for SSI/SSDI, you can use your agency address for their mailing address, but this shouldn’t be needed for the purposes of creating a my Social Security account.

Yes, the SOAR process can assist with an application that has already been started. It won't be "switched" to SOAR by SSA because SOAR is a model for submitting a complete and thorough SSI/SSDI application.

I would recommend submitting the SSA-1696: Appointment of Representative form to the local SSA field office where the claim was started. Then, you can assist by collecting and submitting medical records, writing and submitting a Medical Summary Report, and making sure all application forms are complete.

Since the applicant met with SSA, their application is already being processed - so the more information you can provide quickly to SSA and DDS, the better!