After you’ve filed a claim for Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) with the Social Security Administration (SSA) your claim will be transferred to a state disability agency for a medical determination. In Minnesota and many other states that state agency is called Disability Determination Services (DDS).
There is at least one DDS office per state used to evaluate the DIB and SSI claims. Each office has trained examiners that use the SSA’s rules to determine if the claimants meet the medical requirements for disability. Each DDS office is funded by the federal government.
After the DDS office has made a decision on the claim, the claim may be selected for review by one of the Social Security Disability Quality Branches (DQB). The cases are selected at random from each DDS office. The purpose of the DQB is to confirm that the DDS examiner who evaluated the claim properly followed the SSA’s procedures and standards to make the determination.
If your claim has been selected by the DQB, it will take several weeks for them to make the final decision. If the DDS office had initially approved your claim and the DQB agrees, your claim will be forwarded to your local SSA office for payment.
If your claim was denied by DDS and the DQB agrees, you have the opportunity to appeal that decision. If you were denied on your initial application you must file a Request for Reconsideration within 65 days of the date of the denial. If you were denied on your Request for Reconsideration you must file a Request for Hearing within 65 days of the denial. For more information on how to file an appeal, please view the SSA’s publication titled “The Appeals Process.”
If the DQB office determines that the decision made on your claim by DDS was incorrect or if there is any missing information they will return the decision to DDS to reevaluate.
For more information on DDS and the DQB check out the SSA’s webpage titled “Disability Determination Process.”
