Social Security recently published a notice on new rules regarding how it will established if a person has a medically determinable impairment of a primary headache impairments and how it will evaluate primary headache disorders in disability claims. The following is the introduction of the new ruling that was published in the Federal Register Aug. 26, 2019.
Primary headache disorders are among the most common disorders of the nervous system. Examples of these disorders include migraine headaches, tension-type headaches, and cluster headaches. We are issuing this SSR to explain our policy on how we establish that a person has an MDI of a primary headache disorder and how we evaluate primary headache disorders in disability claims. In 2018, the Headache Classification Committee of the International Headache Society published the third edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD–3). The ICHD–3 provides classification of headache disorders and diagnostic criteria for scientific, educational, and clinical use. We referred to the ICHD–3 criteria in developing this SSR. We consider a person age 18 or older disabled if he or she is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity due to any medically determinable physical or mental impairment(s) that can be expected to result in death, or that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months. In our sequential evaluation process, we determine whether a medically determinable physical or mental impairment is severe at step 2. A severe MDI or combination of MDIs significantly limits a person’s physical or mental ability to do basic work activities. We require that the MDI(s) result from anatomical, physiological, or psychological abnormalities that can be shown by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques.
Our regulations further require that the MDI(s) be established by objective medical evidence from an acceptable medical source (AMS). We will not use a person’s statement of symptoms, a diagnosis, or a medical opinion to establish the existence of an MDI(s). We also will not make a finding of disability based on a person’s statement of symptoms alone.
