Sickle Cell Disease: Social Security Disability Evaluation Questionnaire |
Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research Disability Screen Survey
This survey is being conducted by two undergraduate students at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine under the mentorship of Dr. Lanetta Jordan.
Shaili Tapiavala is a sophomore currently majoring in Biology and Public Health with a minor in Chemistry. Julie Piccione is a senior currently majoring in Exercise Physiology with two minors in Biology and Public Health.
Dr. Jordan is a faculty member in the Department of Public Health Sciences. A Medical-Legal partnership with the University of Miami's Law School Health Rights Clinic, individuals with sickle cell disease seeking disability will be screened based on the Social Security Administration's Limiting Impairments criteria.
Purpose: The purpose of this survey is to engage the provider’s experience with the Social Security Administration (SSA) disability determination process for their patient’s with sickle cell disease. Your responses will provide an estimate of the percentage of your patients with Disability Insurance (DI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Shaili Tapiavala is a sophomore currently majoring in Biology and Public Health with a minor in Chemistry. Julie Piccione is a senior currently majoring in Exercise Physiology with two minors in Biology and Public Health.
Dr. Jordan is a faculty member in the Department of Public Health Sciences. A Medical-Legal partnership with the University of Miami's Law School Health Rights Clinic, individuals with sickle cell disease seeking disability will be screened based on the Social Security Administration's Limiting Impairments criteria.
Purpose: The purpose of this survey is to engage the provider’s experience with the Social Security Administration (SSA) disability determination process for their patient’s with sickle cell disease. Your responses will provide an estimate of the percentage of your patients with Disability Insurance (DI) and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
The results will be presented at the 9th Annual Sickle Cell Disease Research and Educational Symposium and 38th National Sickle Cell Disease Scientific Meeting.
Disability Determination Steps
There are three (3) key steps in the application process.
1. Step 1 and Step 2 – the majority of patients begin here and are denied.
2. Step 3 – SSA criteria has not been utilized to evaluate individuals with sickle cell disease. Evaluation can begin a step 3.
Step 1: Financial screens. For both DI and SSI, Social Security field offices screen out applicants who work and have earned income above the SGA limit. Those claims are denied on the basis of applicants' work activity. In most cases, applicants with earnings above the SGA threshold amount are denied on grounds that their earnings indicate that they are not permanently and totally work disabled. The SGA amount for nonblind beneficiaries was $1,010 per month in 2012.
Step 2: A medical screen to deny applicants without a severe impairment. An applicant is denied at step 2 if his or her impairment(s) is considered not severe. According to SSA's Program Operations Manual System (POMS), under step 2: “it must be determined whether medical evidence establishes a physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments of sufficient severity as to be the basis of a finding of inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity (SGA). When medical evidence establishes only a slight abnormality or a combination of slight abnormalities which would have no more than a minimum effect on an individual's ability to work, such impairment(s) will be found “not severe,” and a determination of “not disabled” will be made…”
Applicants are also denied if their impairments fail the duration test; that is, if the impairment (1) is not expected to result in death, and (2) has neither lasted 12 months nor is expected to last for a continuous period of 12 months.
Step 3: A medical screen to allow applicants who are the most severely disabled. Medical evidence on an applicant's impairment is assessed under step 3 using codified clinical criteria called the Listing of Impairments, which includes over 100 impairments. Applicants with impairments that “meet” the Listings are allowed with no further evaluation, based solely on medical criteria.
Disability Determination Steps
There are three (3) key steps in the application process.
1. Step 1 and Step 2 – the majority of patients begin here and are denied.
2. Step 3 – SSA criteria has not been utilized to evaluate individuals with sickle cell disease. Evaluation can begin a step 3.
Step 1: Financial screens. For both DI and SSI, Social Security field offices screen out applicants who work and have earned income above the SGA limit. Those claims are denied on the basis of applicants' work activity. In most cases, applicants with earnings above the SGA threshold amount are denied on grounds that their earnings indicate that they are not permanently and totally work disabled. The SGA amount for nonblind beneficiaries was $1,010 per month in 2012.
Step 2: A medical screen to deny applicants without a severe impairment. An applicant is denied at step 2 if his or her impairment(s) is considered not severe. According to SSA's Program Operations Manual System (POMS), under step 2: “it must be determined whether medical evidence establishes a physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments of sufficient severity as to be the basis of a finding of inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity (SGA). When medical evidence establishes only a slight abnormality or a combination of slight abnormalities which would have no more than a minimum effect on an individual's ability to work, such impairment(s) will be found “not severe,” and a determination of “not disabled” will be made…”
Applicants are also denied if their impairments fail the duration test; that is, if the impairment (1) is not expected to result in death, and (2) has neither lasted 12 months nor is expected to last for a continuous period of 12 months.
Step 3: A medical screen to allow applicants who are the most severely disabled. Medical evidence on an applicant's impairment is assessed under step 3 using codified clinical criteria called the Listing of Impairments, which includes over 100 impairments. Applicants with impairments that “meet” the Listings are allowed with no further evaluation, based solely on medical criteria.