I’m a disability lawyer, and this is the number one mistake I see people make on their Social Security disability applications, and it shows up most often when folks apply without a lawyer. The truth is, most of the questions on the application don’t really matter all that much. What matters is one thing: whether the SSA can actually go out and get your medical records.

When you fill out the application, the SSA asks for your medical sources in one of two ways. They’ll have you either list the names of your doctors, or list the names of the hospitals and medical facilities where you treat. It feels like a small choice, but it isn’t. You want to list the facilities, the hospitals and clinics, not the individual doctors.

Here’s the reason. Doctor Smith doesn’t have a medical records department sitting in his office that the SSA can request records from. But the hospital he works at does. When you give the SSA the name of the facility, you’re pointing them straight at the entity that actually holds your records and knows how to release them.

If you list the doctor instead, you’ve made the SSA do extra work, they have to figure out which hospital you saw Doctor Smith at before they can even start tracking your records down. That’s wasted time on a process that’s already slow, and it’s time your case is sitting still. Very commonly the SSA will give up on collecting records from a provider they have trouble reaching or finding.

When you complete your application, list your medical care providers by hospital and facility, not by the doctor’s name. It’s a small change in how you fill out one section, but it makes it far easier for the SSA to get the records your case depends on, and your case doesn’t get granted if they don’t have them.

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