Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled; Signature Requirements for State Agency Medical and Psychological Consultants in Disability Determinations

Resumo

We propose to revise the requirements of the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) regulations regarding the certifications required on disability determination forms. Determinations of disability are generally made by disability determination services (DDS), which are agencies of each State. Present regulations require that, unless the disability determination is made by a State agency disability hearing officer, disability determinations made by a DDS will be made by a State agency medical or psychological consultant and a State agency disability examiner, including those in which the determination is made on technical, non-medical, rather than medical, grounds. We propose to remove the requirement that a medical or psychological consultant make the determination jointly with the disability examiner when there is no medical evidence to be evaluated.