Medical Narratives and Impairment Questionnaires
 Whether applying for
Social Security disability benefits initially or appealing
a case at the hearing level, your greatest chances at successfully
being granted SSDI or SSI benefits relies
heavily upon proper medical documentation. To that end, that
means you need your treating sources (disability doctors) to complete medical
narratives and impairment questionnaires that support
your disability claim. A narrative report should include, at
a bare minimum, the patient’s relevant medical history, the diagnosis
of the patient’s medical condition, the medical basis for this diagnosis,
treatment prescribed, frequency of visits, medication prescribed and the effects
of the same, limitations on the patient’s activities, and the prognosis
for recovery (if any), and whether the condition will exceed 12 months
in duration. Impairment questionnaires are a bit trickier and should be specific
to the physical or mental impairment in question. For example,
a typical psychiatric/psychological impairment questionnaire
will include the date of first treatment, frequency of treatment,
date of most recent exam, diagnosis, DSM-IV multiaxial evaluation, prognosis,
specific clinical findings broken down by symptoms, laboratory
and diagnostic test results, frequency and severity of clinical findings
and symptoms, functional limitations consistent with the impairments
described, a rating scale of the ability to sustain activity over a
normal workday and workweek, understanding and memory, concentration
and persistence, social interactions, adaptation, awareness, medications
prescribed including dosages, whether the patient can tolerate work
stress, and comments regarding good and bad days. Your disability
lawyer should have these documents at their disposal and carefully
screen the same once completed before submission with your original application
for disability benefits or to an ALJ at a hearing to overturn
a denial of benefits. These principles are equally important
for those applying for long-term disability insurance benefits.
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