VALUE OF A MEDICAL SOURCE STATEMENT

Applicants for Social Security disability benefits should always try to obtain a Medical Source Statement from their treating doctor.  This is a form on which your doctor gives an opinion about your ability to perform certain work related functions, such as sitting, standing, walking, lifting, bending, concentrating, etc.  Here are some of the benefits of getting your doctor to provide this form:

1. It establishes your residual function capacity, which is what Social Security disability decisions are based on.  Your doctor is in the perfect position to decide what your maximum functional abilities are.
2. It helps to establish the severity of your medical conditions.  Without pinning down how severe your impairments are, it is unlikely you can win benefits.
3. It helps establish the date on which you first became disabled, called "the established onset date."  You can usually get benefits back to this date if you were not gainfully employed after that date.

There are basically two types of Medical Source Statement forms:  HA-1151-BK for physical impairments and HA-1152-BK for mental impairments.  Try to ensure that you are using the newest version of each form.

Remember, federal regulations require Social Security to give more weight to the opinion of your treating doctor than to a consulting doctor who examines you once.  So more weight is given to your doctor than to a doctor you hire for a one-time evaluation.  Your doctor's opinion also gets more weight than the consulting doctor Social Security sent you to.  (20 Code of Federal Regulations 404.1527(c)(2).

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