Even after a person, with the help of his or her disability attorney, has been awarded Disability Insurance Benefits (DIB) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, the Social Security Administration has the ability and the duty to review a person’s medical eligibility from time to time to verify their condition has not improved to the point they are able to return to work. The process of reviewing the claim of someone already receiving benefits is called a Continuing Disability Review (CDR).
RGG Law’s disability attorneys have gathered information on the CDR from the website www.disabiltyjudges.com. It claims CDRs are reviewed every three or seven years, depending on the condition and the possibility that a condition will improve. If a claimant has a condition that is expected to improve, a CDR may be held sooner than 3 years. Even people with permanent disabilities will still need a periodic CDR. Continuing Disability Reviews are often conducted more frequently for people under 50 years of age.
Typically, if Social Security has decided to review your case, they will contact you by mail and ask you and your disability attorney to complete a form regarding the status of your medical problems and whether or not they have improved. Usually, the agency will want to know about current medications and medical providers. It is important to cooperate and complete requested paperwork in a timely fashion. It is also important to be able to identify or provide medical records documenting ongoing treatment consistent with your medical problems.
When to Contact Your Disability Attorney Again
If the agency makes a determination that there has been a medical improvement in your condition and that you are able to return to work, you and your RGG Law disability attorney can contest this decision using the same appeal process used when filing a new claim, including the right to have a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge. A case where you are fighting to keep your existing benefits is known as a “cessation” case as you’re trying to prevent the agency from ceasing your benefits.
At certain steps in the appeal process, you can ask that you be paid interim benefits or ongoing benefits while you appeal the cessation case. If you should not prevail on appeal, however, this can result in an overpayment of benefits in which you will actually be called upon by Social Security to pay back the money you received in benefits after their determination that you could return to work.
In addition to the ordinary periodic reviews mentioned above, the agency can initiate a CDR if a person has returned to work or if the agency has received reports from a third party that make them suspect you are able to return to work.