How to Preserve Your Social Security Disability & Financial Stability
When you receive a notice that Social Security is conducting a continuing disability review (CDR) of your disability benefits, it can feel like they are spying on you.
But you haven’t done anything wrong. Social Security checks on disability cases from time to time.
Most of the time, people pass their continuing disability reviews. And the process generally is less involved than when you applied for benefits in the first place.
The purpose is to decide whether your medical condition has improved and whether it still prevents you from working. This determines whether you continue to qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
How often you receive a continuing disability review depends on how much and how soon Social Security thinks your condition may improve.
Your original approval notice should tell you when Social Security expects to conduct your first medical review. If your health has not improved enough for you to return to work, your benefits will continue.
Social Security begins the review with one of two forms:
The SSA-455 Disability Update Report is a short form asking about recent medical treatment, hospital stays and work activity.
The SSA-454 Continuing Disability Review Report asks for more detailed information about your health care providers, treatment, medications, testing, daily activities and employment.
Social Security may ask you to complete additional forms or attend an examination with a medical provider they select for you.
If you receive SSI, Social Security may review your income, resources and living arrangements at the same time. This financial redetermination is separate from the medical decision about whether you still have a qualifying disability.
An important tip: Don’t ignore a continuing disability review notice.
Social Security may stop your benefits if you do not provide the requested information or attend a required examination. Make sure to follow the steps to preserve your access to financial assistance.
The Arizona disability lawyers at Slepian Ellexson can help you understand the forms, collect updated information and respond before the deadline. We help in Phoenix, Tucson and all over Arizona.
Our firm has helped Arizonans since 1978, and our current disability attorneys have more than 50 years of combined experience in disability law.
If we help with your disability claim, you’ll pay no attorney fee until you win your case.
What Does Social Security Look for During a Continuing Disability Review?
The main issue is whether there has been medical improvement related to your ability to work.
Social Security generally compares your current medical condition with the condition documented at the time it approved your benefits. That earlier decision is called the “comparison point decision.”
A change in diagnosis alone is not necessarily enough to end benefits. Social Security looks at whether the medical evidence shows that your condition has improved and whether that improvement increased your ability to perform basic work activities.
If there’s been no medical improvement, your disability benefits will continue.
Social Security may review the following during a CDR:
- Current medical records
- Your latest doctor and specialist visits
- Hospitalizations or emergency treatment
- Recent imaging, laboratory testing and other examination results
- New therapy, counseling or rehabilitation records
- Medications and side effects
- Treatments you have tried
- Symptoms that remain despite treatment
- Changes in your daily activities
- Assistance you receive from family or caregivers
- Work attempts and current earnings
- Whether you have followed prescribed treatment
Returning to work doesn’t always cause your benefits to stop. SSDI includes a trial work period and other work incentives. But work activity can cause Social Security to examine your earnings, job duties and whether your ability to function has increased.
Social Security needs to understand what you can do consistently.
Many people wonder how to “pass” a continuing disability review, which makes it sound like a test with one correct answer.
It’s more accurate to think of it as documenting why you still need disability benefits.
A continuing disability review asks you to turn years of symptoms, treatment and daily struggles into clear evidence that Social Security can understand.
That can be difficult to manage when your health hasn’t improved, and you’re worried about keeping benefits that help you stay financially afloat.
Slepian Ellexson’s Arizona disability lawyers can review the CDR forms with you, identify the medical records that matter and help you explain why an improvement in one symptom doesn’t necessarily mean you can return to full-time work.
We can also help document medication side effects, treatment gaps, unsuccessful work attempts and the support you still need from other people.
Have a FREE initial conversation with us about your situation.
How to Pass a Continuing Disability Review
Start by reading every part of the notice. Write down the due date and respond promptly. If you need more time to gather information, contact Social Security instead of letting the deadline pass.
These steps can help you prepare:
- List every doctor, clinic, therapist and hospital that has treated you.
- Include treatment for all physical and mental conditions.
- Gather dates of appointments, tests, surgeries and hospital stays.
- List current medications and side effects.
- Explain symptoms that continue despite treatment.
- Describe help you receive from others to function every day.
- Report work attempts accurately.
- Keep copies of everything you submit.
- Attend any examination Social Security schedules.
- Continue regular medical treatment.
Treatment gaps may need an explanation. You may have lost insurance, been unable to afford copays, lacked transportation or experienced symptoms that made attending appointments difficult.
Mental health conditions may interfere with your ability to stay organized, motivated or self-aware. Tell Social Security why treatment stopped rather than letting it assume that your condition improved. If you tell Social Security nothing, they will assume you have gotten better.
If Social Security decides your disability has ended, you can appeal.
You generally have 60 days to request reconsideration of a disability benefits cessation. This type of reconsideration can include an opportunity to meet with a disability hearing officer and explain why your benefits should continue.
You may also request that payments continue while the medical cessation appeal is pending.
The deadline for requesting benefit continuation is much shorter, generally within 10 days after receiving the cessation notice. Act immediately if you want to preserve that option.
The Arizona attorneys at Slepian Ellexson can help with:
- Reviewing a notice that benefits will stop
- Completing CDR forms
- Gathering current medical evidence
- Explaining treatment gaps
- Documenting ongoing work limitations
- Responding to questions about employment
- Requesting reconsideration of a decision to stop benefits
- Preparing for a cessation hearing
- Continuing an appeal when appropriate
Benefits may be helping you pay for housing, food, medical care and other basic needs. A notice questioning those benefits can be frightening.
You do not have to handle it alone.
Slepian Ellexson has helped people throughout Arizona with disability applications, reviews and appeals for decades.
With us, you get a local disability attorney who understands the Social Security system as it functions in Arizona and takes time to understand your situation.
Let us help keep you on a steady path.
