SSA, Kaiser Permanente Team Up to Fast-track Disability Benefit Claims Decisions

On Monday, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced in its official press release page that it had finally teamed up with Kaiser Permanente for the purpose of speeding up the decision-making process in disability benefits claims.

Kaiser Permanente will begin transmitting to the agency complete medical records for its patients via electronic means upon proper consent from concerned patients.

Kaiser Permanente is the largest managed health care organization in U.S. In fact, the organization, which was founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sydney Garfield, is now made up of three different groups of entities – The Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and its regional subsidiaries, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and the autonomous regional Permanente Medical Groups. At present, Kaiser Permanente has 8.9 million health plan members, approximately 14,600 physicians, 435 medical facilities, and some 431,000 medical offices.

Each year, the SSA requests approximately 70,000 files from Kaiser Permanente. Therefore, the new system will save a lot of time, effort, and funds for both parties. It will likewise allow the agency to make faster and more accurate decisions.

The recent agreement indicates the agency’s first leap into using health care information technology on a large-scale basis. Although the agency had in fact entered into similar agreements with some smaller health care providers to electronically exchange medical records over the National Health Information Network over the past few years, it was its first time to team up with a large healthcare provider.

According to the agency’s commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, he is confident that people will see the new system as the most significant improvement in the agency’s disability benefit claims decision-making process since the program began way back in 1956. Commissioner Astrue added that in today’s modern technology, it makes no sense for people to chase down records on black and white on an individual basis.

Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente’s Senior Vice President and Business Information Officer Lisa Caplan said that the organization is dedicated to supporting safe and secure health information exchange for its members, and that its partnership with the SSA will enable its patients to receive quicker disability decisions on their benefit claims.

Apparently, the SSA and Kaiser Permanente are both delighted to work together on such innovative move to provide quicker and more efficient results for the disability claims, the two parties claimed in their statements.

A Los Angeles SSI lawyer agrees that the new system will indeed fast track a disability benefits claim and other social security income (SSI) claims, aside from providing comfort and ease to claimants.

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Loneliness May Lead to Early Disability

In a recent study, researchers found out that older adults living alone are more prone to suffer from early disability and die sooner than other older adults who are more social.

Apparently, one’s healthy old age depends on the kind of family ties, friends, and community that an individual has.

According to a research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, loneliness in adults aged 60 and older usually comes with a 45 percent higher risk of dying over the next six years of their lives. Meanwhile, a separate study found out that people living alone and with heart ailments are 25 percent more possible to die from any cause.

Researchers noted that about one out of seven Americans live alone. One of the study’s authors, Carla Perissinotto, of the first study that examined the relation between social isolation and death in the U.S. population, points to the importance of brining up psychological needs along with medical ones in improving older adults’ health.

News reports showed that Perissinotto stated in a phone interview that people cannot continue ignoring things that are occurring in their lives. Perissinotto is an assistant professor of medicine and geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.

Perissinotto claimed that if people continue to turn a blind eye to what most patients are experiencing at home, we may be missing an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s health. 

Also, Deepak Bhatt, the chief of cardiology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the senior author on the cardiac risk and loneliness study, said that psychological stresses brought about by loneliness, which includes anxiety and depression, can trigger heart risks.

Although social security disability insurance can be awarded to those people who have exhibited a severe, current physical or mental impairment, which includes permanent disability that is not possible to improve under any circumstances within a year, there would still be nothing better than working and earning for your own living as long as you can.

However, in case of denied disability benefits, Los Angeles social security disability lawyers who specialized in claims involving permanent disability and other disability claims, are always available to help you.

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Compassionate Allowances Program Speeds up Longterm Disability Claims

Recently, the Social Security Administration (SSA) expanded the list of medical conditions that may qualify for quick approval of several claims like long-term disability to wage earners who are unable to work for more than a year due to disabling physical, mental or emotional condition.

Generally, evaluating each claim takes several months or even years. Therefore, the SSA has found a way to speed up the process for some cases through the Compassionate Allowances Program.

The Compassionate Allowances Program was designed to fast-track the claiming process. Therefore, applicants can receive in no time the due benefits for their conditions that are known to cause serious or life-threatening disabilities.

The said Compassionate Allowances Program was introduced in 2008 with only about 50 diseases and conditions. Later on, it included some 100 conditions and now lists a total of 165 conditions.

A spokesperson from the agency, Diana Varela, said that diseases included on the Compassionate Allowances Program are so severe that they do not need to obtain an applicant’s complete employment history just to make a resolution. That is how the process is made faster.

Meanwhile, the SSA is said to be considering and evaluating some more conditions to be added to the program’s list.

Moving on with its application process, applying for the Compassionate Allowances Program is the same as applying for general disability benefits. But, once the agency determines that the applicant’s condition qualifies for the said program, the process or approval becomes much quicker.

Additionally, an applicant can file the claim online. Therefore, they never have to physically appear before the agency’s office. However, of course, an applicant needs to provide the following as required by the agency:

General Information
•    Name
•    Date of birth
•    Social security number
•    Name of spouse and children (for married applicants)
•    Bank account information
•    Contact number / address

Medical Information
•    Name
•    Address
•    Contact number of doctors
•    Name of clinic or hospital where you receive treatment
•    Employer’s information
•    Names of medicines you have taken or are currently taking
•    Medical history

To make a successful long-term disability claim, make sure that your claim is supported by the above-said documents and information as a ready reference. Also, a Los Angeles long term disability lawyer suggested to have your insurance policy documents reviewed by a professional to determine your eligibility. A consistent medical treatment for the disability of medical condition can also be a great help in supporting your evidences and in determining the policy’s status.

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