Begun in New England as an attempt by Social Security to expedite the consideration of Social Security disability claims that meet certain predictive criteria, its Quick Disability Determination Process has been expanded on a national basis.  

Social Security’s adoption of an electronic claims filing system has made the implementation of this initiative possible.

The electronic claims filing system identifies certain characteristics of a claim that make it highly probable that the claimant will ultimately be found to be disabled under Social Security’s Listing of Impairments.  In that way, the claim file can be flagged for a quick determination of the claimant’s entitlement to disability benefits without the long wait that most claimants endure at the present.

In the New England test model it took on average only twenty-one days for a resolution of claims that fit within the Quick Disability Determination criteria.  However, only 3 percent of the total number of cases fit within those criteria. And the New England model does not incorporate nearly as many diseases as would be desirable.

Social Security has issued a final regulation to state agencies and, in the case of Ohio, the Ohio Bureau of Disability Determination extending the Quick Disability Determination Process nationwide.

In addition, Social Security has issued a listing of 50 impairments, 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers, called “Compassionate Allowances.”  These conditions are so severe that they obviously meet Social Security’s Listing of Impairments and, if medical evidence of same were introduced at the hearing level, would permit a finding of disability.  Thus, Social Security has deemed these cases to be worthy of rapid adjudication.  Social Security continues to seek out other diseases and cancers that it may include under this special program.

The combination of cases qualifying under both programs allows Social Security to dispose of up to 250,000 cases within 6 to 8 days on a national basis per year.

The listing of diseases and cancers that qualify as Compassionate Allowances is set forth below:

COMPASSIONATE ALLOWANCES

1. Acute Leukemia
2. Adrenal Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
3. Alexander Disease (ALX) - Neonatal and Infantile 
4. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
5. Anaplastic Adrenal Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
6. Astrocytoma - Grade III and IV
7. Bladder Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
8. Bone Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
9. Breast Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
10. Canavan Disease (CD)
11. Cerebro Oculo Facio Skeletal (COFS) Syndrome
12. Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) - Blast Phase
13. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) - Adult
14. Ependymoblastoma (Child Brain Tumor)
15. Esophageal Cancer
16. Farber's Disease (FD) - Infantile
17. Friedreichs Ataxia (FRDA) 
18. Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Picks Disease -Type A - Adult
19. Gallbladder Cancer
20. Gaucher Disease (GD) - Type 2
21. Glioblastoma Multiforme (Brain Tumor)
22. Head and Neck Cancers - with distant metastasis or inoperable or uresectable
23. Infantile Neuroaxonal Dystrophy (INAD)
24. Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) 
25. Kidney Cancer - inoperable or unresectable
26. Krabbe Disease (KD) - Infantile
27. Large Intestine Cancer - with distant metastasis or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
28. Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (LNS)
29. Liver Cancer
30. Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL)
31. Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) - Late Infantile
32. Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) - Type A
33. Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer - with metastases to or beyond the hilar nodes or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
34. Ornithine Transcarbamylase (OTC) Deficiency
35. Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) - Type II
36. Ovarian Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable or unresectable
37. Pancreatic Cancer
38. Peritoneal Mesothelioma
39. Pleural Mesothelioma
40. Pompe Disease - Infantile
41. Rett (RTT) Syndrome
42. Salivary Tumors
43. Sandhoff Disease
44. Small Cell Cancer (of the Large Intestine, Ovary, Prostate, or Uterus)
45. Small Cell Lung Cancer
46. Small Intestine Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
47. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - Types 0 And 1
48. Stomach Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent
49. Thyroid Cancer
50. Ureter Cancer - with distant metastases or inoperable, unresectable or recurrent