It has been almost a year since Social Security proposed new regulations for Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) with no action taken, but as the Trump Administration’s time in office winds down now Social Security has asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve new regulations that would add a new category to CDRs, Medical Improvement Likely (MIL). Social Security contends this new category is needed because it would be for disability recipients who are currently either in the Medical Improvement Expected (MIE) category or the Medical Improvement Possible (MIP) category. This seems like another attempt at making the Social Security disability process more difficult and could possibly cutoff benefits to many Americans. The proposal asks that people who are placed in the MIL category to be reviewed every two years to determine if they have improved enough to go back to work. Below is a summary of the regulation when it was published.
We propose to revise our regulations regarding when and how often we conduct continuing disability reviews (CDR), which are periodic reviews of eligibility required for benefit continuation. The proposed rules would add a category to the existing medical diary categories that we use to schedule CDRs and revise the criteria for assigning each of the medical diary categories to cases. The proposed rules would also change the frequency with which we perform a CDR for claims with the medical diary category for permanent impairments. The revised changes would ensure that we continue to maintain appropriate stewardship of the disability program and identify medical improvement (MI) at its earliest point.
There is no guarantee this regulation will be finalized. Because agencies have to give at least 30 days notice on these regulations it must be listed in the Federal Register by December 21, 2020 prior to the Biden Administration taking over and the new administration could refuse to implement the new regulation.
