The importance of gathering your medical records for your Florida Social Security disability claim

It is critical to obtain all your medical records from all your Florida doctors and hospitals. Many claimants, especially those with complicated medical histories, fail to provide a complete list of medical providers to their disability lawyer and therefore to the Social Security Administration.

The Social Security Administration requires a lot of medical documentation, and general conclusions are not enough, especially if the issue is whether your impairment meets a Listing. The introductory sections to the Social Security Administration’s Listing of Impairments contain specific requirements for particular kinds of medical evidence.

What records you need and what you don’t need

We need to gather all the medical evidence that is relevant to your disability.

Generally, this means that it is not necessary to submit records concerning routine medical care for matters having nothing do to with your disability, non-disabling impairments, or even all records pertaining to the disabling impairments. For example, nurse’s notes, doctors’ orders and other miscellaneous records from a hospitalization seldom add anything to a case. As a rule, records from more than a year before the onset date are not very helpful in proving that you have been disabled since the onset date.

How to obtain the records

Once you hire a Florida disability lawyer to help in pursuing your disability benefits then the lawyer or his or her law firm staff will do most of the leg-work in contacting your medical providers to obtain the necessary copies of your medical records.

Your primary job is to be sure that you give your lawyer a full and complete list of your medical history and medical providers, and to be as accurate as you can about the dates of treatment. Be as thorough and careful as you can about the caregiver and the address of the caregiver. If you were seen by a private doctor for outpatient treatment at a hospital, identify both the hospital and the doctor because either one might have your records.

Getting medical records from specific sources

Hospital Records

Your Florida disability lawyer will want emergency room records, admission histories and physicals, all reports by medical consultants, physical therapy evaluations and reports, surgical/operative reports, pathologist’s reports, discharge summaries and test results pertaining to your impairment, such as laboratory reports, radiologist reports, nerve condition/EMG reports, nuclear medicine reports, etc.

Veterans Administration Hospital

Ordinarily, if they understand that the purpose of the records request is for a Social Security disability claim then Veterans Administration Hospitals will provide records free of charge.

Veterans Administration hospital records usually do not contain Veterans Administration rating exam reports and Veterans Administration disability ratings. Your Florida disability lawyer may need to request these from the appropriate Veterans Administration Regional Office. Although Veterans Administration disability determinations are not binding on the Social Security Administration, they are considered to be “evidence.”

Furthermore, because of the similarity between a Veterans Administration finding of unemployability and what it means to be disabled under the social security disability program, some courts have held that the Veterans Administration disability ratings are entitled to “great weight.”

Physicians, Osteopaths, Podiatrists, Optometrists

The Social Security Administration recognizes physicians, osteopaths, podiatrists and optometrists as acceptable medical sources.

When you get doctor’s records, you want to be sure that the doctor’s office includes all reports, including a copy of the doctors’ notes.

Psychologists

The Social Security Administration recognizes psychologists as an acceptable medical source. When requesting office records from a psychologist it is important to request copies of all test results because these are required by the mental Listings.

Chiropractors

The Social Security Administration does not recognize chiropractors as acceptable medical sources. Instead, chiropractors are considered “other” medical sources.

Furthermore, the weight given to a chiropractor’s records and opinion may be less than that given to other professionals listed along with chiropractors as “other medical sources,” such as nurse-practitioners, physicians’ assistants, audiologists and therapists.

Physical and Occupational Therapists

The Social Security Administration identifies physical and occupational therapists as “other medical sources” rather than “acceptable medical sources.” Nevertheless, the summaries, evaluations, and notes of treatment of physical and occupational therapists may be invaluable.

Get experienced help from a Florida disability lawyer

You can help by providing an accurate list of all your doctors and other medical providers. Once you have done that, it is usually more efficient to let a Florida disability lawyer who has experience with working with the Social Security Administration decide which records to go after.

If you are not already represented by a Florida disability lawyer and want my evaluation of your case, give me a brief description of your claim using the form to the right.

Or you may e-mail or call my office.

Law Offices of Walter Carfora
Florida disability lawyer

111 Second Avenue N.E., Suite 917
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701

Telephone: (727) 823-9780
FAX: (727) 821-6501