The Social Security Administration recently added a new service that would allow Social Security disability representatives to determine the status of an Appeals Council case.
If a claimant’s Social Security disability case is denied by an Administrative Law Judge, that decision can be appealed to something known as the Appeals Council.
The Appeals Council is located in Falls, Church,Virginia, with additional offices inBaltimore,MarylandandCrystalCity,Virginia. Once the request for review is filed the Appeals council can take anywhere up to 18 months to make a decision on a case. The average processing time for a decision from the Appeals Council is 395 days, according to Social Security.
The Appeals Council can deny the request for review, overturn a previous decision made on a case or remand the case back for another hearing before an ALJ if it is determined procedural errors were made.
Because the wait time can be so long, the news that representatives can access status of an Appeals Council case online should be well received. Previously, the only way to determine the status of an active Appeals Council case is to call the Appeals Council, which was time consuming without great results.
The new online access should limit the amount of time representatives spend attempting to determine the current status of Appeals Council cases and better serve claimants who are wondering what the status of their case is.
Representatives interested in checking the status of a client’s claim can go to the Electronic Records Express (ERE) homepage, select “Get Status Reports” and then select “Get Appeals Council Status Report.” Representatives will have two options, through a “quick view” report or a more detailed status report via a spreadsheet.
For more information about the new Appeals Council initiative click here.
