Medical Source Statements by Treating Doctors or Health Providers

When an individual applies for Social Security Disability Benefits, all medical records during the relevant time period of disability must be requested and submitted. Along with mandatory medical records, an individual may request their treating doctor or health provider to fill out and submit a medical source statement form. A medical source statement form is essentially paperwork your doctor fills out indicating his or her opinion regarding the severity of your medical condition and the limitations that these medical conditions place on the individual. This form will ask them for information such as the conditions they are treating the individual for, how long have they been treating the individual, what their opinion is on the individuals ability to work, and what specific limitations the individual may have in regard to physical requirements like sitting, standing, walking, and lifting. While this form may be very helpful to disability case, there are some important points to note. First, this form is NOT required to be filled out and submitted by your doctor. Filling out the form is totally voluntary, and your doctor cannot be forced to fill it out. Secondly, there is no guarantee that the treating doctor will fill out the form favorably – i.e. in a manner that will support or help the individual’s case for disability. Thus, it is important consult the treating doctor prior to sending the form to explain what the form is and to see if they would be willing to fill it out. This is very important because all forms filled out and submitted by doctors MUST be exhibited to the individual’s file. It does not matter if the form is favorable or unfavorable, once it is submitted by the providing doctors it will be evidence for the judge to consider.