Library & Tools

The Social Security Administration (SSA) Online Services can be used to efficiently communicate with, acquire information from, and send information to SSA. This guide describes who is eligible, how to obtain access, and the key uses for each online service. If you have questions, please contact your SOAR TA Center Liaison.

Read our Q&A with a SOAR case worker from New York who has an appeals success story!

Find up-to-date information on the rates that SSA sets annually.

The Social Security Administration now offers a video option for Administrative Law Judge appeal hearings.

On this webinar, held on June 18, 2020, we introduced our updated SOAR Appeals Toolkit and guest speakers offered practice tips on effectively representing SOAR applicants with appeals.

This article explains how you can promote SOAR with your Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) office to help ease their backlog and workload issues, while at the same time, improving access to expedited decisions for SOAR applicants.

This webinar, held on April 11, 2019, provided tips on how to get started on your first SOAR-assisted SSI/SSDI application.

We’ve gathered examples of well-written, successful Medical Summary Reports (MSRs) from SOAR providers across the country for the SOAR community to use as extra guidance.

Once the Request for Hearing has been processed at OHO, both the representative and applicant will receive a notice indicating the case has been successfully transferred to the court’s Master Docket, where cases are screened. At this stage, representatives can request a Prehearing Case Review or an On-the-Record (OTR) review to avoid the need for a hearing. If the OHO office is not able to grant these requests, the applicant retains the right to a hearing. A request for an expedited hearing due to dire need can also be submitted.

Appointed Representatives assisting with ALJ hearings and Appeals Council level cases can obtain online access to applicants’ electronic folders by enrolling in Appointed Representative Services (ARS). There are also benefits to enrolling in ARS, even if you only assist with initial claims.