Social Security has proposed changing to its listings for musculoskeletal disorders. Social Security’s listings are impairments used by Social Security in making disability determinations by judging the severity of impairments. We will be presenting a series on the proposed changes, first looking at the current listing Social Security considers, followed by the proposed new listing. Next up is the new listing of 1.19. In a change of pace, there is no current listing that exists in Social Security’s impairments to compare this new listing to.
1.19 Pathological fractures due to any cause
1.19 Pathologic fractures due to any cause (see 1.00J), documented by A and B:
- Three or more medically documented pathologic fractures occurring on separate occasions within a 12-month period;
AND
- Impairment-related physical limitation of musculoskeletal functioning that has lasted, or can be expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months, and medical documentation of at least one of the following (see 1.00E):
- A documented medical need for a walker, bilateral canes, or bilateral crutches;
or
- An inability to use one upper extremity to independently initiate, sustain, and complete work-related activities involving fine and gross movements, and a documented medical need for a one-handed assistive device that requires the use of the other upper extremity; or
- An inability to use both upper extremities to the extent that neither can be used to independently initiate, sustain, and complete work-related activities involving fine and gross movements.
It is important to note, section 1.19 is the only new listing that was not apart of the current listings, so it will be totally new criteria Social Security will consider. Another important factor to consider, Social Security decided to update these listings for the first time since 2001 and one rationale was to make them more straight forward, but all the proposed new listings are longer than the existing listings.
