Medical Records and Other Information You Will Need to Apply for Disability
If you haven’t heard already, applying for and receiving disability benefits can often be a long and tedious process. Although it isn’t always the case, you should be ready to wait for a period while the Social Security Administration determines the status of your application. However, there are a few steps you can take to assist while getting the case off to a good start. One of these steps is to be sure you have the proper information, documents, and medical records prepared and to be submitted to the SSA for review.
You are going to want to provide the Social Security Administration with sufficient, accurate, and timely medical evidence supporting your claim and needs for disability benefits. It is of the utmost importance that you can provide evidence that your ability to work within the next 12 months has been affected due to a disease or medical condition.
If your initial application ends up being denied for benefits, you may want to seek the assistance of an attorney who will collect the needed documentation from doctors and other medical experts to back your case and provide evidence of your limitations. You will only want the judge to receive records and information that is relevant to your condition. Your attorney will know the best way to handle information that is not productive for your case.
You will want to be prepared to submit the needed medical information at the same time you complete the paperwork for an appeal of the decision reached by the SSA. Any records or reports that you submit from a doctor must be no older than 60 days.
Arguably the most important information you will submit to the SSA is a Residual Functional Capacity. This is used to evaluate the level of activity that an impaired individual is capable of. The Social Security Administration will use your residual functional capacity along with your skills, level of education, and age to determine if you qualify to receive disability benefits.
Your RFC will be created by medical consultants provided through the Social Security Administration, however, you will have a better chance of being approved to receive benefits if a residual functional capacity is filled out by your doctor as well and then submitted along with all the other test results and medical documentation you submit when applying to receive disability benefits.
