You Just Received Notice Of A Consultative Doctor's Exam For SSA. Now What Do You Do?

If you've filed for Social Security disability benefits, you may find yourself opening a letter telling you that you've been scheduled for a consultative doctor's examination in order to evaluate your condition. What does this mean? How does it affect your claim? Here's what you should know before you go to the examination.

1.) You need to contact the disability examiner at DDS (Disability Determination Services).

You've been scheduled for the consultative exam because there isn't enough information in your medical file to officially approve or deny your claim. 

What you want to find out is why there isn't enough information. Have all of your doctors submitted your records to the disability examiner? If not, which ones need to do so?

This is your opportunity to get the medical records and any other report (like a letter about your disability) directly from your physician yourself and forward it all to the DDS claims examiner.

You want to get this done before you see the consultative doctor because your own doctor's records are usually more important than any other source of medical information. DDS won't consider something it doesn't have in file once the consultative report comes back.

2.) Take copies of your medical records with you to the consultative examination, so that the records are in front of the doctor when he or she is evaluating you.

Take all X-rays, MRIs, or other test results with you to the consultative examination. If you don't have them handy, and there isn't enough time to gather all the records before your exam, contact the disability examiner and ask to reschedule so that you have time to get your records together.

Insist that you be given the actual films from your X-rays and other tests, whenever possible. If not, take printouts. If you try to take the records on a DVD or multimedia storage device. the consultative doctor's software might not open the programs and you won't have accomplished your goal.

The more medical documentation you present the consultative doctor with, the harder it is for him or her to ignore evidence that supports your claim.

3.) Realize that the consultative doctor may be prejudiced against you.

Studies have shown that people are inherently biased against the disabled, especially when a disabled person is applying for benefits. Essentially, people are inclined to think of the disabled as either lazy or somehow responsible for their own condition.

As difficult as it may be to understand, the consultative doctor may be prejudiced against you and therefore inclined to view everything you say or do in a way that's negative for your claim.

4.) Recognize that the "independent" consultative doctor probably makes a significant portion of his or her income doing examinations for Social Security.

A doctor who is perceived as "too easy" with his or her reviews is likely not going to remain a consultant for long. While you don't want to go into the examination with a hostile air, be conscious that everything that you do or say is going to be viewed very critically.

For example, how you look, walk, move, or talk in the waiting room may be recorded by the staff before you get into the examination room. If your disability includes depression or panic attacks, any polite conversation you make with another person in the waiting area may be seen as "proof" that you aren't socially impaired by your condition or even really depressed. If the doctor asks you how you are today and you say, "Okay," that could be proof that you feel fine.

5.) Take someone with you to the consultative examination as a witness.

Consultative examinations should be long enough for a doctor to really address the issue. If the doctor is in and out of the door in five minutes, you want a witness that can attest to how brief the exam really was. You can bet that the doctor's report will indicate a "thorough" examination, no matter how little time he or she actually spent with you.

6.) Consider consulting an attorney at this point, if you haven't already.

Often, an attorney like Horn & Kelley, PC Attorneys at Law can help uncover what's really driving the request for the consultative examination, and can help you mitigate the impact of a negative report. Being sent for a consultative examination doesn't mean that your claim is going to be automatically denied, but it can throw up some barriers to success.

Ultimately, you want to view the fact that you've been scheduled for an exam as notice that you need to get more information from your own doctors to the DDS examiner as fast as possible in order to give yourself the best chance for approval. That will help mitigate negative information from the consultative doctor, if there is any, following your exam.