Railroad Workers Get More Doctors to Prove They're Disabled
Published Date: 1/16/2025
Rule
Summary
The Railroad Retirement Board is updating its rules to accept more types of medical experts when deciding disability claims, like school psychologists and audiologists. This change matches Social Security’s updated rules and helps make sure claims get fair and modern reviews. The new rule starts March 17, 2025, so if you’re applying for disability, your medical evidence might come from more kinds of specialists now.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
More kinds of medical experts accepted
If you apply for Railroad Retirement disability, the Board will accept medical reports from more types of specialists starting March 17, 2025. Newly designated acceptable medical sources include licensed or certified school psychologists (for intellectual disability, learning disabilities, and borderline intellectual functioning only), licensed podiatrists (for foot or foot-and-ankle impairments, depending on State scope of practice), qualified speech-language pathologists (for speech or language impairments only, with state licensure/certification or ASHA certificate), licensed audiologists (for hearing loss, auditory processing, and balance disorders within their scope), licensed advanced practice registered nurses (within their licensed scope), and licensed physician assistants/physician associates (within their licensed scope).
Limits on using other medical providers' reports
The Board will accept and consider evidence from other licensed healthcare workers (for example, licensed clinical social workers, naturopaths, and chiropractors), but it still requires objective medical evidence from an acceptable medical source to establish the presence of a medically determinable impairment. That means reports from these other providers can help explain how an impairment affects your ability to work, but they cannot alone establish that you have the impairment.
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