U.S. Rep. John Larson, (D-Connecticut) and U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, (R-New York) recently sent a letter to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) seeking answers on the agency’s current process of obtaining medical evidence in disability cases. Larson serves as the chair of the Social Security Subcommittee and Reed is the Republican leader on the committee.
The Congressmen are seeking information on this topic because they believe an update is long overdue. The last time Social Security issued a repot on the collection of medical evidence in Social Security disability cases was in 2001. A portion of the letter indicating the direct questions Larson and Reed are seeking answers to is below.
With that in mind, we are interested in understanding the following:
- What share of MER is obtained directly by SSA from providers compared to from claimants themselves? How has this changed over time?
- With respect to MER that is obtained directly by SSA:
- What is SSA’s current process for obtaining medical evidence in the form of either electronic medical records (also known as Health IT) or traditional paper records?
- What is the cost for SSA to obtain MER? How does cost vary by form, type, or state?
- What is the processing time to receive MER and how does it vary? What challenges does SSA face regarding receiving MER quickly?
- What challenges does SSA encounter regarding the acceptance of Form 827 authorizing the collection of MER? Do these vary by state or provider?
- What were the results from SSA’s June 2018 Request for Information (RFI) for Social Security Administration’s National Medical Evidence Collection, SSA-RFI-18-622? Specifically, what information did SSA receive as a result of the RFI and what actions did the Agency take (or does the Agency continue to take) based on the responses to the RFI?
