To determine what benefits an applicant may be eligible to receive, it is imperative to examine the person’s medical history. After reviewing a person’s medical history, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will have a better understanding of a person’s condition.
Call today to learn more about the process of examining an applicant’s medical history in Tampa SSDI claims. An experienced SSDI lawyer could review your situation and help you with your application.
Treating Doctor’s Report
A treating doctor’s report comes from the patient’s actual treating physician. It is from someone who can actually give a better idea of what their physical or mental health conditions are. The reports are the physician’s everyday progress notes. If the person goes to the doctor, then there is going to be a corresponding progress note to that doctor’s visit. In addition, the SSA may send a one to a three-page questionnaire to a treating physician during a claim, to help get an opinion of the claimant’s conditions.
When filing for Social Security Disability benefits, the doctor’s report, more commonly known as a medical source statement, can help solidify someone’s claim for disability benefits. A medical source statement by a treating physician is going to typically carry more weight because it is from a physician who knows the patient better than a consultative evaluator.
A treating physician doctor’s report might be called into question if it does not match the progress notes of the treating physician. The SSA could discredit the treating physician’s medical source statement and give more weight to the consultative evaluator.
What is the Disability Determination Service?
A Disability Determination Service (DDS) assesses the SSDI claim. When the medical evidence is obtained, the past relevant work is determined, and a consultative examination has been conducted, that is when DDS steps in and makes an assessment of a person’s claim. They do a full-on evaluation, which ultimately will result in either approval or denial of their benefits. The DDS are the service within the SSA that is responsible for doing the evaluation of an applicant’s claim.
Process of Examining Medical History
When reviewing the medical history in a Tampa SSDI claim, the examiner is going to assess as far back as they can recall regarding the person’s medical history. If the applicant has a history of surgeries, they are going to want to know what those surgeries were and when they were performed. If they have a history of hospitalizations, they are going to assess that during that portion of the evaluation. Even mental health would be assessed, so the assessment is thorough.
Subjective complaints refer to a person’s own expression of their symptoms. This may include physical ailments such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or anything else they physically experienced that keeps them from being able to work. The applicant is going to have to subjectively describe that to the examiner. The same factors apply to mental health.
The physical examination involves a range of motions. They are going to assess the range of motion of the person’s back, neck, shoulders, lower extremities, and hands. They are going to assess their visual acuity, ability to walk, squat, and walk on their toes or heels. It is a very thorough examination to see what they are and are not capable of doing. In a psychological evaluation, they will ask the person different types of questions to assess their mental status. They will assess their memory. In certain cases, they may do an IQ test.
Treatment history is similar to medical history. They just want to know what type of treatment they have received in the past, whether it is physical or mental.
How an Attorney Could Help
An accomplished lawyer could help individuals who have any questions concerning their medical history in Tampa SSDI claims. Also, an attorney could help you with applying and recovering the benefits that you deserve. A well-versed legal professional has experience helping people who are trying to recover SSDI benefits. Call today.
