Authors: Post P, Perret Y, Anderson S, Dalton M, Zevin B
This manual is a guide to documenting medical impairments in support of applications for the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) disability benefits programs, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). It is primarily intended for health care providers in the United States serving individuals with disabilities who are homeless or marginally housed.
The original version of this manual, Determining Disability: Simple Strategies for Clinicians by James J. O’Connell, MD, was published in 1997 by the Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) Clinicians’ Network, National Health Care for the Homeless Council and updated in 2004 (Documenting Disability: Simple Strategies for Medical Providers).
This revision further updates the prior publications, based on the June, 2006 edition of Social Security’s Medical Listing of Impairments, the latest changes for which are found at www.ssa.gov. In addition, it includes more detailed information about the appropriate documentation of impairments that co-occur with substance use disorders, originally published in June 2007 as a supplement to the 2004 manual: Documenting Disability for Persons with Substance Use Disorders & Co-occurring Impairments. We hope that readers will find the combination of these two manuals in one publication helpful. An extensive bibliography lists resources where more detailed information can be found about federal disability policy and disabilities frequently seen in homeless populations.