Our clients are still required to submit paperwork to us. While there are options available for people to drop off documents at the office, we prefer that our clients fax them or send them to us electronically. It is easiest for us when these items are scanned and emailed. Luckily, there are mobile scanning apps available for both Android and iPhone users that are easy to use. • Evernote Scannable is available for free in both the App Store and Google Play. This app allows you to scan and send documents, business cards, receipts, and much more by simply pointing your phone at them. • CamScanner , like Evernote, is available for both the iPhone and Android. When you scan documents with CamScanner, they are turned into clear, sharp PDFs. This makes it easy for all parties to send and read them. • Notes is perfect for Apple users. The Notes app lets you take notes, scan documents, create checklists, and save images and then stores them in iCloud, allowing you to sync all the information, no matter what Apple device you use. We also want our clients to be aware that our team is having some difficulty getting medical records from health care providers. To help with this, we are encouraging our clients to sign up for their medical providers’ patient portal. These portals allow clients to access their medical information online from their doctors, and they are an excellent way for clients to provide the quality information we need for your claim.
CONTINUING TO SERVE OUR CLIENTS
A Better Way of Storing and Sharing Information
We’re not having anyone come into the office as a means to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety and wellness of both our clients and employees. We are communicating with our clients through telephone, email, and fax. And we also have the ability to talk to clients through videoconferencing on Zoom. I use a camera on my office desktop to videoconference with anyone who wants to speak as face to face as possible. While we’ve taken the steps to ensure we can speak to our clients regularly, remote work has posed some obstacles. We’d like to provide some resources we’ve found that have made things a little easier.
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the state Disability Determination Service (DDS). The DDS may be responsible for some of the delays people are experiencing for a few reasons. Occasionally, the DDS wants to send someone to a doctor for an examination, either physical or mental. Right now, as I’m writing this article, there are no physical exams taking place. Unfortunately, as we are mostly getting by with day-to-day updates involving the pandemic, no one is quite sure when they’ll resume. Nonetheless, they are continuing some psychological evaluations through video communications in the form of a videoconferencing system. Despite getting a mental examination, the process may slow if the DDS feels you need to be seen by a doctor. One important note I want to add is that if the DDS is sending you to a doctor they chose for your exam, it means you aren’t seeing your own doctors enough. When physical examinations begin again, it will be vitally important that you are receiving treatment from a doctor for every condition that is affecting your ability to work. Ideally, you will be seeing a doctor who specializes in treating your disabling condition and your doctor will order objective medical testing that will document your physical or mental impairments and their severity. If you are frequently seeing a doctor for the conditions that are affecting your ability to work , and your impairments are well documented by
clinical notes and objective medical testing, the DDS might not deem it necessary to send you to one of their doctors for an exam. When it comes to reducing the time a person must wait to begin receiving their Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR) are encouraging people to support the Stop the Wait Act. The NOSSCR states that this act “would provide an economic stimulus to the American economy and many of our most vulnerable citizens. This legislation would end the five-month waiting period that Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries must endure after they have been determined eligible for their earned SSDI benefits.” This act would provide relief, helping those individuals who would otherwise be waiting in these difficult times to receive those benefits and financial support. If you have any questions regarding your doctor visits and the wait for hearings, call our office. We can help guide you through the process step by step.
4 | GilletteLawGroup.com
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