Florida Social Security Disability

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Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.

 Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com

Tags: Insurance, News

My office attended the June 2008 NOSSCR conference.  At the conference, a representative with SSA spoke on a number of different topics, but the one that is most exciting is the news that SSA plans to be totally automated by September 2009.  SSA is currently working on allowing attorneys and claimants to interact electronically with them.  They are specifically working on: 

• Security Registration for attorneys and claimants allowing access to accounts.
• Use SSA source reference files online – an individual’s social security record including medical records, etc.
• Making the filing of claims and appeals easier online
• Submitting Appointment of Representative (SSA-1696) and Direct Deposit Information (SSA-1695) electronically
• Receive automated receipts; i.e., e-mail stating that an appeal has been filed or the 1696 has been received.

These changes are REALLY exciting because they will allow my office to get up to the minute information regarding our clients’ claim and recent actions, etc.  This is also good news to SSA because the will be able to allocate staff to other areas in their offices.   WAY TO GO SSA!!!

Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.

 Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com 

Tags: News, SSA

In developing evidence of the effects of symptoms, such as pain, shortness of breath, or fatigue, on a claimant’s ability to function, SSA investigates all avenues presented that relate to the complaints. These include information provided by treating and other sources regarding:

• the claimant’s daily activities;
• the location, duration, frequency, and intensity of the pain or other symptom;
• precipitating and aggravating factors;
• the type, dosage, effectiveness, and side effects of any medication;
• treatments, other than medications, for the relief of pain or other symptoms;
• any measures the claimant uses or has used to relieve pain or other symptoms; and
• other factors concerning the claimant’s functional limitations due to pain or other symptoms.

 Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com 

Tags: Records, Social Security Disability, Tips

If the evidence provided by the claimant’s own medical sources is inadequate to determine if he or she is disabled, additional medical information may be sought by recontacting the treating source for additional information or clarification, or by arranging for a CE. The treating source is the preferred source for a CE if he or she is qualified, equipped, and willing to perform the examination for the authorized fee. Even if only a supplemental test is required, the treating source is ordinarily the preferred source for this service. However, SSA’s rules provide for using an independent source (other than the treating source) for a CE or diagnostic study if:

• the treating source prefers not to perform the examination;

• the treating source does not have the equipment to provide the specific data needed;
• there are conflicts or inconsistencies in the file that cannot be resolved by going back to the treating source;

• the claimant prefers another source and has good reason for doing so; or prior experience indicates that the treating source may not be a productive source.

Consultative Examination Report Content For Social Security Disability Claims:A complete CE is one which involves all the elements of a standard examination in the applicable medical specialty. A complete consultative examination report should include the following elements:

• the claimant’s major or chief complaint(s);
   
• a detailed description, within the area of specialty of the examination, of the history of the major complaint(s);
   
• a description, and disposition, of pertinent “positive” and “negative” detailed findings based on the history, examination, and laboratory tests related to the major complaint(s), and any other abnormalities or lack thereof reported or found during examination or laboratory testing;
   
• results of laboratory and other tests (e.g., X-rays) performed according to the requirements stated in the Listing of Impairments;
   
• the diagnosis and prognosis for the claimant’s impairment(s);
   
• a statement about what the claimant can still do despite his or her impairment(s), unless the claim is based on statutory blindness. This statement should describe the opinion of the consultant about the claimant’s ability, despite his or her impairment(s), to do work related activities such as sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, handling objects, hearing, speaking, and traveling; and, in cases of mental impairment(s), the opinion of the consultant about the individual’s ability to understand, to carry out and remember instructions, and to respond appropriately to supervision, coworkers, and work pressures in a work setting. For a child, the statement should describe the child’s functional limitations in learning, motor functioning, performing self-care activities, communicating, socializing, and completing tasks (and, if the child is a newborn or young infant from birth to age 1, responsiveness to stimuli); and
   
• the consultant ’s consideration, and some explanation or comment on, the claimant’s major complaint(s) and any other abnormalities found during the history and examination or reported from the laboratory tests. The history, examination, evaluation of laboratory test results, and the conclusions will represent the information provided by the consultant who signs the report.

Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.

 Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com

Tags: Social Security Disability, Tips

Currently, many disability claims are decided on the basis of medical evidence from treating sources. SSA regulations place special emphasis on evidence from treating sources because they are likely to be the medical professionals most able to provide a detailed longitudinal picture of the claimant’s impairments and may bring a unique perspective to the medical evidence that cannot be obtained from the medical findings alone or from reports of individual examinations or brief hospitalizations. Therefore, timely, accurate, and adequate medical reports from treating sources accelerate the processing of the claim because they can greatly reduce or eliminate the need for additional medical evidence to complete the claim.

Medical Evidence From Health Facilities For Social Security Disability ClaimsSocial Security also requests copies of medical evidence from hospitals, clinics, or other health facilities where a claimant has been treated. All medical reports received are considered during the disability determination process.

Other Evidence For Social Security Disability ClaimsInformation from other sources may also help show the extent to which a person’s impairment(s) affects his or her ability to function in a work setting; or in the case of a child, the ability to function compared to that of children the same age who do not have impairments. Other sources include public and private agencies, non‑medical sources such as schools, parents and caregivers, social workers and employers, and other practitioners such as naturopaths, chiropractors, and audiologists.

Medical Reports For Social Security Disability Claims:Physicians, psychologists, and other health professionals are frequently asked by SSA to submit reports about an individual’s impairment. Therefore, it is important to know what evidence SSA needs. Medical reports should include:

• medical history;

• clinical findings (such as the results of physical or mental status examinations);

• laboratory findings (such as blood pressure, x-rays);

• diagnosis;

• treatment prescribed with response and prognosis;

• a statement providing an opinion about what the claimant can still do despite his or her impairment(s), based on the medical source’s findings on the above factors. This statement should describe, but is not limited to, the individual’s ability to perform work-related activities, such as sitting, standing, walking, lifting, carrying, handling objects, hearing, speaking, and traveling. In cases involving mental impairments, it should describe the individual’s ability to understand, to carry out and remember instructions, and to respond appropriately to supervision, coworkers, and work pressures in a work setting. For a child, the statement should describe his or her functional limitations in learning, motor functioning, performing self-care activities, communicating, socializing, and completing tasks (and, if a child is a newborn or young infant from birth to age 1, responsiveness to stimuli).

Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.   Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com 

Tags: Records, Social Security Disability, Tips

Documentation of the existence of a claimant’s impairment must come from medical professionals defined by SSA regulations as “acceptable medical sources.” Once the existence of an impairment is established, all the medical and non-medical evidence is considered in assessing impairment severity. “Acceptable medical sources” are:

• licensed physicians (medical or osteopathic doctors);  
• licensed or certified psychologists. Included are school psychologists, or other licensed or certified individuals with other titles who perform the same function as a school psychologist in a school setting, for purposes of establishing mental retardation, learning disabilities, and borderline intellectual functioning only ; 
• licensed optometrists, for purposes of establishing visual disorders only (except, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, licensed optometrists, for the measurement of visual acuity and visual fields only);
• licensed podiatrists, for purposes of establishing impairments of the foot, or foot and ankle, depending on whether the State in which the podiatrist practices permits the practice of podiatry on the foot only, or the foot and ankle; and
• qualified speech-language pathologists, for purposes of establishing speech or language impairments only. For this source, “qualified” means that the speech-language pathologist must be licensed by the State professional licensing agency, or be fully certified by the State education agency in the State in which he or she practices, or hold a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA. 

Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com 

Tags: Impairment, Social Security Disability

A common question we are asked:  Can someone work and still receive disability benefits? A. Social Security rules make it possible for people to test their ability to work without losing their rights to cash benefits and Medicare or Medicaid. These rules are called “work incentives.” The rules are different for title II and title XVI, but under both programs they may provide:

• continued cash benefits;
   
• continued help with medical bills;
   
• help with work expenses or;
   
• vocational training.

For more information about work incentives, ask any Social Security Office for the publication:
http://www.ssa.gov/redbook/

Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA. 

Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com 

Tags: Benefits, Social Security Disability, Tips

If you are accused of malingering based upon the fake bad scale on the mmpi2, read about the creator of the fake bad scale in an article called:

Welding’s Toxic Legacy: Did a 5 Billion Dollar Industry Cover up the Health Risks of Manganese to Thousands of Workers?

It showed Paul Lees Haley, the creator of the fake bad scale, being paid 860,000.00 (he’s not even a medical doctor) The same article cites Dr. Erin Bigler, a professor of psychology at Brigham Yong University saying, “It has every appearance of the industry buying science”   http://www.publicintegrity.org/Manganese/Default.htm      

Dorothy Clay Sims, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.   

Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com

Tags: Fake Bad Scale, Malingering

A common question asked by many claimants is:  When do disability benefits start?

A. The law provides that, under the Social Security disability program, disability benefits for workers and widows usually cannot begin for 5 months after the established onset of the disability. Therefore, Social Security disability benefits will be paid for the sixth full month after the date the disability began. The 5-month waiting period does not apply to individuals filing as children of workers. Under SSI, disability payments may begin as early as the first full month after the individual applied or became eligible for SSI.

In addition, under the SSI disability program, an applicant may be found “presumptively disabled or blind,” and receive cash payments for up to 6 months while the formal disability determination is made. The presumptive payment is designed to allow a needy individual to meet his or her basic living expenses during the time it takes to process the application. If it is finally determined that the individual is not disabled, he or she is not required to refund the payments. There is no provision for a finding of presumptive disability or blindness under the Title II program.

 Elizabeth Stakenborg, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.  

 Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com

Tags: Benefits, Social Security Disability, Tips

Plaintiff lawyers Dorothy Clay Sims and Matthew D. Powell obtained a $1.5 million dollar verdict for a client who was charged with malingering. Read the full story here.

Dorothy Clay Sims, Esq. ~ Sims, Stakenborg & Henry, PA.

 Offices in Ocala, Marion County, Florida and Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida. We provide service to the surrounding areas. Our telephone number is: 352-629-0480. Please visit our website at: www.ocalaw.com

Tags: News