These are the rules SSDI uses to evaluate disabilities. This is the Listings of Impairments referred to in: What Parkinsonians Should Know About Social Security Disability Insurance Item# 3665 in the archives. Part 1 covers the basic rules and Neurological disorders. Part 2 covers Mental disorders. PART II EVIDENTIARY REQUIREMENTS Medical Evidence Under both the title II and title XVI programs, medical evidence is the cornerstone for the determination of disability. Each person who files a disability claim is responsible for providing medical evidence showing that he or she has an Impairment(s) and how severe the impairment(s) is. However, SSA will help claimants get medical reports from their own medical sources when the claimants gives SSA permission to do so. This medical evidence generally comes from sources who have treated or evaluated the claimant for his or her impairment(s). Acceptable Medical Sources Documentation of the existence of a claimant's impairment must come from medical professionals defined by SSA's regulation as "acceptable medical sources." Once the existence of an impairment is established, all the medical and nonmedical evidence is considered in assessing impairment severity. "Acceptable medical sources" generally include licensed physicians (including licensed osteopaths), licensed or certified psychologists, and licensed optometrists (for measurement of visual acuity and visual fields). Social 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. Medical Evidence From Treating Sources 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. Other Evidence Information from other sources may also help show the extent to which a person's impairment(s) affects his or her ability to function. Other sources include public and private social welfare agencies, non-medical sources such as teachers, day care providers, social workers and employers, and other practitioners such as naturopaths, chiropractors, audiologists, and speech and language pathologists. Medical Reports 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 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 the child's ability to function independently, appropriately, and effectively in an age-appropriate manner in the domains and behaviors appropriate for the child's age. Consultative Examinations 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 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 diagnostic study if: * the treating source prefers not to perform these 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 a good reason for doing so; * prior experience indicates that the treating source may not be a productive source. Consultative Examination Report Content A complete CE is one which involves all the elements of a standard examination in the applicable medical specialty. When the report of a complete consultative examination is involved, the 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; * the results of laboratory and other tests (e.g., X-ray s) performed according to the requirements stated in the Listing of Impairments (see Part III); * 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 consulting physician or psychologist 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 physician or psychologist 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; and * the consultative physician or psychologist will consider, and provide 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 or laboratory test results, and the conclusions will represent the information provided by the physician or psychologist who signs the report. Evidence Relating to Symptoms 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 dally 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. In assessing the claimant's pain or other symptoms, the decisionmaker(s) must give full consideration to all of the above-mentioned factors. It is important that medical sources address these factors in the reports they provide. PART III LISTING OF IMPAIRMENTS The Listing of Impairments describes, for each major body system, impairments which are considered severe enough to prevent a person from doing any gainful activity, (or in the case of children under age 18 applying for SSI, are comparable in severity to an impairment that would preclude an adult from engaging in any gainful activity). Most of the listed impairments are or expected to result in death, or a specific statement of duration is made. For all others, the evidence must show that the impairment has lasted or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months. The criteria in Listing of Impairments are applicable to evaluation of claims for disability benefits or payments under both the Social Security disability insurance and SSI. Part A of the Listing of Impairments contains medical criteria that apply to adults age 18 and over. The medical criteria in part A may also be applied in evaluating impairments in persons under age 18 if the disease processes have similar effect on adults and younger persons. Part B contains additional medical criteria that apply only to the evaluation of impairments of persons under age 18. Certain criteria in part A do not give appropriate consideration to the particular effects of the disease processes in childhood, i.e., when the disease process is generally found only in children or when the disease process differs in its effect on children and adults. Additional criteria are included in part B, and the impairment categories are, to the extent possible, numbered to maintain a relationship with their counterparts in part A. In evaluating disability for a person under age 18, part B will be used first. If the medical criteria in part B do not apply, then the medical criteria in part A will he used. The criteria in the Listing of Impairments apply only to one step of the multi-step sequential evaluation process. At that step, the presence of an impairment that meets the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (or that is of equal severity) is usually sufficient to establish that an individual who is not working is disabled. However, the absence of a listing-level impairment does not mean the individual is not disabled. Rather, It merely requires the adjudicator to move on to the next step of the process and apply other rules in order to resolve the issue of disability. 11.01 Category Of Impairments, Neurological 11.02 Epilepsy - major motor seizures (grand mal or psychomotor), documented by EEG and by detailed description of a typical seizure pattern, including all associated phenomena; occurring more frequently than once a month, in spite of at least 3 months of prescribed treatment. With: A. Daytime episodes (loss of Consciousness and convulsive seizures) or B. Nocturnal episodes manifesting residuals which interfere significantly with activity during the day. 11.03 Epilepsy - Minor motor seizures (petit mal or psychomotor), documented by EEG and by detailed description of a typical seizure pattern including all associated phenomena; occurring more frequently than once weekly in spite of at least 3 months of prescribed treatment. With alteration of awareness or loss of consciousness and transient postictal manifestations of unconventional behavior or significant interference with activity during the day. 11.04 Central nervous system vascular accident. With one of the following more than 3 months post-vascular accident: A. Sensory or motor aphasia resulting in ineffective speech or communication; or B. Significant and persistent disorganization of motor function in two extremities, resulting in sustained disturbance of gross and dexterous movements, or gait and station (see 11.00C). 11.05 Brain tumors A. Malignant gliomas (astrocytoma - grades III and IV, glioblastoma muitiforme), medulloblastoma, ependymoblastoma, or primary sarcoma; or B. Astrocytoma (grades I and II), meningioma, pituitary tumors, oligodendroglioma, ependymoma, clivus chordoma, and benign tumors, Evaluate under 11.02, 11.03, 11.04A, or B, or 12.02. 11.06 Parkinsonian syndrome. With the following signs: Significant rigidity, bradykinesia, or tremor in two extremities, which, singly or in combination, result in sustained disturbance of gross and dexterous movements, or gait and station. 11.07 Cerebral palsy. With: A. IQ of 70 or less; or B. Abnormal behavior patterns, such as destructiveness or emotional instability; or C. Significant interference in communication due to speech, hearing, or visual defect; or D. Disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B. 11.08 Spinal cord or nerve root lesions, due to any cause with disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B. 11.09 Multiple sclerosis. With: A. Disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B; or B. Visual or mental impairment as described under the criteria in 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, or 12.02; or C. Significant, reproducible fatigue of motor function with substantial muscle weakness on repetitive activity, demonstrated on physical examination, resulting from neurological dysfunction in areas of the central nervous system known to be pathologically involved by the multiple sclerosis process. 11.10 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. With: A. Significant bulbar signs: or B. Disorganization of motor function as described in 1l.04B. 11.11 Anterior poliomyelitis. With: A. Persistent difficulty with swallowing or breathing; or B. Unintelligible speech; or C. Disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B. 11.12 Myasthenia gravis. With: A. Significant difficulty with speaking, swallowing, or breathing while on prescribed therapy; or B. Significant motor weakness of muscles of extremities on repetitive activity against resistance while on prescribed therapy. 11.13 Muscular dystrophy with disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B. 11.14 Peripheral neuropathies. With disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B, in spite of prescribed treatment. 11.15 Tabes dorsalis. With: A. Tabetic crises occurring more frequently than once monthly; or B. Unsteady, broad-based or ataxic gait causing significant restriction of mobility substantiated by appropriate posterior column signs. 11.16 Subacute combined cord degeneration (pernicious anemia) with disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B or 11.15B, not significantly improved by prescribed treatment. 11.17 Degenerative disease not listed elsewhere, such as Huntington's chorea, Friedreich's ataxia, and spino-cerebellar degeneration. With: A. Disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B or 11.15B; B. Chronic brain syndrome. Evaluate under 12.02. 11.18 Cerebral trauma: Evaluate under the provisions of 11.02,11.03,11.04, and 12.02, as applicable. 11.19 Syringomyelia. With: A. Significant bulbar signs; or B. Disorganization of motor function as described in 11.04B. John Cottingham "The parkinsn list brings Knowledge, Comfort, Hope, and Friendship to the parkinsonian world." [log in to unmask]