Map medical evidence to the disability sequential evaluation
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- Table the medical evidence against the five adult steps, or the three steps for a child applying for supplemental security income, and leave the finding at each step blank.
- What the lawyer must review
- The Social Security Administration's disability guide describes a sequential evaluation. For an adult the steps are the claimant's current work activity, the severity of the impairment, whether the impairment meets or medically equals a listing, the ability to perform past relevant work, and the ability to do other work based on age, education and work experience. For a child applying for supplemental security income the steps are current work activity, severity, and whether the impairment meets, medically equals or functionally equals a listing. If the Administration can find the person disabled or not disabled at a step, the evaluation stops. You make that finding. The listing criteria are in Part III of the guide. Open that part before anyone says a listing is met. The tool must not say that a listing is met. Formal Opinion 512: you remain responsible for the conclusion.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Consider narrowly defined preparation support after confirming the tool’s capability and permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Trace every relied-on figure to its source, confirm dates and assumptions, and independently recalculate totals or derived amounts.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.