What Are Disability Adjudication Services (DDS)?

Disability Adjudication Services is the name Georgia uses for the state agency that reviews the medical side of Social Security disability claims and decides whether an applicant’s condition meets the federal definition of disabled.1Social Security Administration. Disability Determination Process Every state has one of these agencies. Most call it Disability Determination Services (DDS), and the Social Security Administration uses that term officially.2Social Security Administration. Disability Determination Process – Professional Contacts The name on the door changes; the job does not. The agency is fully federally funded, follows federal regulations, and handles the medical determination for both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims.3Social Security Administration. POMS DI 39501.020 – Federal and State Relationship

What the Agency Actually Decides

When you apply for disability, your local Social Security field office handles the non-medical side first: work history, age, income, insured status. If you clear those checks, the field office forwards your file to the state agency for the medical determination.1Social Security Administration. Disability Determination Process The question in front of the state agency is narrower than people often expect. It is not whether you are sick or injured. It is whether your condition prevents you from performing substantial gainful activity.

In 2026, substantial gainful activity means earning more than $1,690 per month if you have a non-blindness disability, or more than $2,830 per month if you are blind.4Social Security Administration. New for 2026 – Red Book If you are already earning above those thresholds, the claim generally ends there without a deep look at the medical file.

Your case is assigned to a disability examiner who works alongside a state agency medical or psychological consultant. Federal regulations require both to participate in the determination.5eCFR. 20 CFR 404.1615 – Making Disability Determinations The examiner gathers records, contacts your doctors, and builds the file. The consultant reads the clinical evidence and helps judge what you can still physically or mentally do.

The Five-Step Evaluation

The agency applies a fixed five-step sequence set by federal regulation. A finding at any step can end the analysis early.6Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.1520 – Evaluation of Disability in General

  • Step 1, current work. If you are working above the substantial gainful activity threshold, the claim is denied here.
  • Step 2, severity. Your condition must be a medically determinable impairment that significantly limits basic work activities. Minor conditions are screened out.
  • Step 3, listed impairments. SSA keeps a list of conditions severe enough to qualify automatically. If your impairment matches or medically equals a listing, you are approved without going further.
  • Step 4, past work. The agency assesses your residual functional capacity, meaning what you can still do despite your limitations, and compares it to jobs you held in the past 15 years. If you can still do a past job, the claim is denied.
  • Step 5, other work. If past work is out, the agency weighs your age, education, and remaining capacity against other jobs in the national economy. If such jobs exist for someone with your profile, the claim is denied. If they don’t, you are found disabled.

Most successful claims win at Step 3 or Step 5. Step 5 is where the analysis gets fact-heavy, because the question is about jobs that theoretically exist nationally, not jobs available locally or in your prior field.

Medical Evidence That Carries the Decision

The strength of your claim depends almost entirely on your medical records. The agency wants objective evidence from treating sources, not just your description of symptoms. Useful material includes progress notes from doctors, specialists, and mental health providers who see you regularly; lab work and imaging; a treatment history showing medications, surgeries, and therapies with your response to each; and any functional assessment from a treating provider describing specific limits, such as how long you can stand, how much you can lift, or how well you can concentrate over a sustained period.

Day-to-day impact matters too. Information about difficulty with routine tasks like cooking, bathing, or managing finances helps the examiner see the real-world effect of your condition. If putting your own limitations into words is hard, ask someone who sees you regularly to write a statement.

The agency contacts your providers directly to request records. You do not need to collect and mail everything yourself, but you can speed things up by signing release forms promptly and making sure the agency has accurate contact information for every provider you have seen.

Consultative Examinations

If the file is incomplete, inconsistent, or too old to support a decision, the agency can order a consultative examination. This is a one-time appointment with an independent doctor or psychologist, paid for by SSA.7eCFR. 20 CFR 404.1519 – Consultative Examinations These exams get scheduled when your own providers can’t or won’t supply what’s needed, when records conflict, or when existing evidence doesn’t cover the right issues.8Social Security Administration. Consultative Examination Guidelines

A consultative exam is not a second opinion working in your favor. The doctor is evaluating you for the agency, often in under an hour, and the resulting report generally carries less weight than years of records from your own treating providers. If you are scheduled for one, go. Skipping the appointment can produce a denial for insufficient evidence.

How Long It Takes and the Odds

Initial determinations averaged roughly 193 days as of late 2025, or about six to seven months from application to decision.9Social Security Administration. Social Security Administration Brings Medical Continuing Disability Reviews In-House Claims with multiple impairments, mental health components, or thin records tend to run longer. A consultative examination adds weeks and sometimes months. You can check status through your my Social Security account or by calling the local field office.

Approval rates at the initial stage are low. In fiscal year 2024, roughly 16 percent of initial claims were approved and about 62 percent were denied; the rest were disposed of through technical denials or withdrawals. Many denied applications were filed with weak documentation or for conditions SSA does not treat as disabling under its rules. A well-documented claim with strong treating-source evidence has meaningfully better chances.

If the Claim Is Denied

A denial is not the end. You have 60 days from the date you receive the written denial notice to request the next level of review, and SSA assumes you received the notice five days after the date printed on it, so the effective deadline is 65 days from the notice date.10Social Security Administration. Understanding Supplemental Security Income Appeals Process Miss the window and you usually have to start over with a new application.

SSA provides four levels of appeal.11Social Security Administration. Appeal a Decision We Made

  • Reconsideration. A different examiner and medical consultant review the claim from scratch. You can and should submit new medical evidence at this stage.
  • Administrative law judge hearing. If reconsideration is denied, you can request a hearing before an administrative law judge. Approval rates typically improve here because you appear in person or by video, can bring witnesses, and can explain your limitations directly.
  • Appeals Council review. The council can grant, deny, or dismiss the request, or send the case back for a new hearing.
  • Federal court. If the Appeals Council declines review, you can file a civil action in U.S. District Court.

The 60-day deadline applies at every level. Letting any deadline lapse without good cause generally forces a restart.

Continuing Disability Reviews

Approval is not permanent. SSA conducts periodic continuing disability reviews to check whether your condition has improved. The frequency depends on the category assigned at your initial approval:12Social Security Administration. Your Continuing Eligibility

  • Improvement expected: review within 6 to 18 months of the initial approval.
  • Improvement possible: review roughly every three years.
  • Improvement not expected: review roughly every seven years.

Your award notice tells you which category applies and when to expect the first review. When a review opens, SSA sends you Form SSA-454-BK, which asks for updated information about your providers, medications, daily activities, and any education or vocational rehabilitation since the last decision.13Social Security Administration. Continuing Disability Review Report (Form SSA-454-BK)

The standard for terminating benefits is higher than the standard for denying an initial claim. SSA must show that your condition has medically improved in a way related to your ability to work, and in most cases must also show that you are now able to perform substantial gainful activity.14Social Security Administration. 20 CFR 404.1594 – How We Will Determine Whether Your Disability Continues or Ends Feeling better or attending fewer doctor visits is not enough on its own. If your condition is as limiting as it was when you were approved, benefits should continue.