When evaluating a claim for Social Security Disability, or Supplemental Security Income, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has a specific analysis it follows in every case. If the claimant has a “severe impairment” by SSA’s rules, but the impairment does not meet the requirements of a specific impairment in the Listing of Impairments, the SSA will then assess the claimant’s residual functional capacity, or RFC. The claimant’s RFC is a determination of what work-related activity the claimant can still do despite any limitations caused by their impairments and the symptoms of their impairments, like pain and fatigue.
In determining the claimant’s RFC, the SSA will look to several factors such as:
• Physical abilities for work-related activities (standing, sitting, walking, lifting/carrying, pushing/pulling);
• Manipulative and postural abilities for work-related activities (reaching forward or overhead, handling large objects, use of fingers, feeling, stooping, balancing, climbing stairs or ladders, kneeling, crouching, crawling);
• Tolerance of environmental conditions (such as temperature extremes, wetness, humidity, noise, hazardous working conditions like moving machinery or heights, dust, fumes, odors, gases, poor ventilation, vibrations);
• Visual, hearing and speech limitations;
• Maintaining concentration and attention at work;
• Ability to maintain adequate production levels;
• Ability to understand, remember, and carry out instructions of varying degrees of complication and detail;
• Ability to respond appropriately to contact with supervisors, co-workers and the general public;
• Ability to respond appropriately to routine work stressors and to cope with changes in the work place. (Social Security Ruling 96-8p)
To assess the claimant’s RFC, Social Security may send the claimant to a consultative exam with a doctor of the SSA’s choosing. The SSA will also look at the medical records submitted as evidence from the claimant’s treating doctors. Based on the evidence obtained in the consultative exam and contained in the medical records, the SSA will make a determination of the claimant’s RFC.
Often, conclusions reached by SSA doctors in consultative exams are not favorable to the claimant’s SSDI case. The best way to combat these conclusions is to submit a medical source statement that evaluates the claimant’s RFC, authored by the claimant’s treating doctor. The claimant can argue that the medical source statement is a more accurate reflection of the claimant’s RFC. The medical source statement is based on numerous visits with the claimant over a longer span of time; compared with the short, single exam the doctor authoring the Consultative Exam performed.
