The answer to this is “yes,” and “no.”
When Social Security requests medical records from a treatment provider (doctor, hospital, walk-in clinic, physical therapist, chiropractor, etc.), and they put a cap on how much they are going to pay for those records.
Unfortunately, they do not put any cap on how much the medical records provider can charge you if you request the same records. I have previously written about how much treatment providers can charge for medical records in the state of Colorado. Other states have similar laws in place setting the maximum for medical record charges. However, Social Security gets the best deal when it comes to requesting medical records.
You can use this to your advantage. During the initial evaluation of the case, Social Security will request your medical records from your treatment providers at no cost to you. This is why it is very important to provide Social Security with the most complete information about the doctors you are treating with, their names, addresses, and telephone numbers.
Also, it is a good idea to stayed in touch with the Disability Determination Services office in your state to make sure they are requesting, and receiving, these records.
If you are already past the initial evaluation step in your case, that is if you have already received your initial denial, it may be a good idea to work with an attorney to help limit what records you are requesting. There are a couple of reasons for this:
In my experience handling Social Security disability cases in Colorado, Social Security rarely requests medical records after the initial determination. Occasionally, I see some judges requesting medical records. But this is pretty rare, and only in cases where the claimant is not represented by counsel.
Doesn’t this mean that I can get Social Security to get my medical records at no cost to me if I simply don’t hire an attorney?
Well, no. There is no guarantee that Social Security will get updated medical records. Additionally, you have no control over what records Social Security will try to get, or how far back they will go.
By working with an attorney, you can determine which doctors records are essential in your case, and which ones are not. The lawyer can also help you determine how far back the records should go, and most importantly, what records to specifically leave out of the request to keep costs to a minimum.
If you request all available medical records within a certain period of time, maybe a third of the records will actually be useful and relevant. The remaining records may be unnecessary lab results, physical therapy notes, nurses notes, or medication logs. This is not to say, these types of records are always unnecessary, but frequently they do not add very much to building up a case.
Remember: when you request medical records, you pay by the page. So, the more pages you receive (relevant or not) the more you pay.
Your lawyer can help craft a medical records request that will weed out the unnecessary pages, give you the most relevant records, and save you money.
