Library & Tools

The SAMHSA SOAR TA Center has created a toolkit to provide helpful suggestions and key considerations when hiring and supervising SOAR case workers.

On this webinar, held on August 28, 2019, participants learned tips and tools on how to write quality Medical Summary Reports (MSR).

Is your agency looking to hire a SOAR Benefits Specialist?  Take a look at this Sample Job Description!

The Medical Summary Report (MSR) is SOAR’s signature tool and key to a successful application. It provides a succinct, comprehensive summary of the applicant’s personal and treatment history and its impact on his or her life. It also clearly describes the factors affecting functioning and ability to work.

Here are examples of completed SSA and SOAR Forms using information from a fictitious SSI child applicant.

The second webinar in our "Completing Quality SOAR Applications" series was held on June 27, 2018 and focused on how to optimize medical records collection and approach SSA’s Listings of Impairments for expediting your SOAR claim.

This webinar, held on March 8, 2018, discussed a pilot project in which schools of social work integrated SOAR into their MSW programs.

SSI/SSDI overpayments may cause undue hardship for beneficiaries who are experiencing or at-risk for homelessness. This article provides tips for avoiding overpayments and steps to follow in the overpayment appeal/waiver process.

This toolkit combines articles from the SOARWorks website as well as other materials into one comprehensive resource about the Social Security Administration (SSA) appeals process.

This article provides example descriptions for the areas of mental functioning. The “effective” functional descriptions clearly link the symptoms of the applicant’s illness with their limitations.