James

Personally, I would be concerned that SSA is not treating a case like this as a possible compassionate allowance (CAL) case.

By now, the case should have moved out of the District Office (the local SSA office) to Disability Determination Services (DDS). The local office can provide the number for the DDS office that a case at this stage has been assigned to. New people work on a case at DDS, and this on its own, often removes many interpersonal conflicts. I would call DDS and see who the case has been assigned to and inquire if the case is being considered as a possible CAL case.

If not, or if I felt I was being brushed off, I might encourage my client to get their congress-critter involved. I have a post on resolving issues at SSA including that nuclear option here: http://www.socialsecurityinsider.com/2010/11/solving-problems-at-social-security/

Good luck! And give some consideration to working with a lawyer in your area.

There is also a lot more information about the Compassionate Allowance program in the Social Security regulations: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0423…

Or, just click http://bit.ly/coY3pm

Lots of good stuff here like:
– Compassionate Allowance (CAL) and Quick Disability Determination (QDD): Similarities and Differences
– Identifying and Receipting Quick Disability Determination (QDD) and Compassionate Allowance (CAL) Cases

However, these are *internal* regulations — which means they are very dry and contain a lot of terms and acronyms geared for Social Security employees.

the claimant is disabled;

evidence of the claimant’s allegations is expected to be easily and quickly verified; and

the case can be processed quickly by the disability determination services (DDS).

B. Process of QDD
The QDD process goes beyond Terminal Illness (TERI) and Presumptive Disability/Blindness (PD/PB) criteria to identify applicants with clearly disabling conditions whose medical evidence is readily available. With such applicants, a fully-favorable determination should be made quickly after receipt in the DDS (recommended timeframe is 20 days or less). A predictive model (PM) is used to identify QDD cases. A unique threshold selection, using scoring criteria, is set by the PM for each DDS which means that similar cases may or may not be identified as QDD cases depending on the DDS processing the case.

QDD cases are:

Identified electronically at clearance from the FO by EDCS and upon receipt by the DDS's automated case processing system;

Assigned to designated disability examiners who have the knowledge, training, and experience to effectively carry out the QDD process;

Processed as expedited cases; and

Able to be designated simultaneously as a TERI, PD/PB and/or a Compassionate Allowance (CAL) claim to ensure continued priority handling if the case is removed from the QDD process.

Like TERI and PD/PB cases; full non-medical development must be initiated in the FO for a QDD case.

pdxpj says: I found this before looking at your site. Is this what dgbehart is talking about? I need this 20 day process too, for my breadwinner husband who has an end stage, rapidly progressing cancer. Wish you were in Portland, OR…..I could use your help!

http://www.socialsecurityinsider.com/2008/10/so…

http://ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/compassionate-all…

These links should answer your question on what Compassionate Allowances are and the eligibility requirements. If not, post a comment with what you would like to know.