Securing proper medical reports and source statements from attending physicians is critical in proving disability under the Social Security Law.
A good medical source statement will include questions regarding what percentage of a workday a patient’s symptoms interfere with attention and concentration necessary to do even simply tasks. This period of time is known as being “off task”.
It is obvious that if a person is off task for a significant portion of their workday, they will not be able to keep a job as their productivity will suffer greatly.
When a vocational expert is asked to give testimony at a hearing, he or she should always be asked whether or not the “off task” time indicated by the attending physician would impact the availability of available jobs in the national economy.
