The Disability Determination Services (DDS) may receive electronic claims transferred from any SSA office or another DDS office.

For Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS) claims, the DDS is alerted to the electronic claim transfer via the Electronic Folder Interface (EFI) download and when they receive the EDCS Routing Form, if there is folder documentation not stored in eView, see DI 81010.087.

Attachments to the EDCS Routing Form may include:

• •

  For Certified Electronic Folders (CEF), signed SSA-827s (Authorization to Disclose Information to the Social Security Administration [SSA]), other paper document(s) not faxed or scanned (e.g., medical records submitted to the Field Office (FO) by the claimant), and any available prior paper folders if being sent to the DDS; or

• •

  For paper folders, a Modular Disability Folder (MDF).

For FO actions when transferring an electronic claim to DDS, see DI 81010.085, Transferring Cases in EDCS.

To receipt electronic claims, the DDS:

1. 1. 

   Accepts jurisdiction if the claim was received by the appropriate office. Do not accept jurisdiction if the EFI download indicates a current paper folder exists for the claim and the paper folder has not been received.

2. 2. 

   Rejects jurisdiction of the claim for the following reasons and examples:

   Reject Reasons	Examples of when to use
   “Fld/Paper Not Recd in 30 days”	The paper documents associated with the Certified Electronic Folder (CEF) (e.g., EDCS Routing Form) or the current paper folder is not received within 30 days.
   “Incorrect Jurisdiction”	The claim was sent to an incorrect office. The DDS adds a message to the CEF if further explanation is needed.
   “Incorrect Claim Type”	The claim type is incorrect (e.g., CDB-R should have been CDB-D).
   “Incorrect Claim Level”	The FO denies an initial level claim because a claimant failed to complete and return SSA-827s. The claimant later completes and returns the SSA-827s and the FO sends a reconsideration level claim to the DDS when an initial medical decision is needed.
   “827 Invalid or Not Recd”	The DDS does not receive any complete paper SSA-827s or there is not an image of a complete SSA-827 in the CEF. For appeal exceptions, see DI 12005.005D. NOTE: Do not reject a claim without an SSA-827, if there is medical evidence in file. For additional information, see DI 11018.005E .
   “Incomplete File”	Something that is necessary to adjudicate the claim is missing from the CEF (e.g., no SSA-3368 [Disability Report - Adult]). The DDS adds a message to the CEF to indicate what is needed.
   “Requested by FO”	The FO requests the claim back prior to case receipt.
   “FO Action Needed”	FO action is necessary before the DDS can process the claim. The DDS adds a message to the CEF to explain what action is needed.

   To reject jurisdiction, the DDS

   • •

     enters one of the reject reasons;

   • •

     adds a message to the CEF to explain the reason for the rejection; and

   • •

     forwards any documents and paper folders to the appropriate office.

     NOTE: Do not reject jurisdiction of an electronic reconsideration claim if the SSA-3441 (Disability Report – Appeal) is not included in the CEF. These cases are identified by an alert on the Alerts and Message tab in eView titled “5002: 3441 not received” along with the description, “See Case Documents tab for detailed information”. Under the Case Documents tab there is a SSA-5002 documenting the reason for appeal and the FO attempt(s) to obtain the 3441. (See DI 81020.025A, Processing Electronic Reconsideration Cases).

3. 3. 

   Processes the EFI Download. EDCS creates an EFI download for each claim established. All claims that have an EDCS Routing Form should also have an EFI Download. If no EFI Download is available, see DI 81020.005, Electronic Folder Interface (EFI) Download. NOTE: Paper folders can have EFI downloads if one claim was entered in EDCS but one claim is an EDCS exclusion.

4. 4. 

   Do NOT change the claim type. The only time it is acceptable to change the claim type is when making a DI into a BI, a DC into a BC, or a DS into a BS.

5. 5. 

   Reviews eView and the DDS case processing system for any flags and messages to determine if priority handling is required.

6. 6. 

   Ensures the Paper Folder Indicators (PFI) are correct (see DI 81020.010, Paper Folder Indicators (PFI)).

7. 7. 

   Receipts and assigns the claim.

8. 8. 

   Processes the claim following current procedures.

Occasionally, a system limitation may prevent the FO from entering a new claim into EDCS when a related claim was previously entered on EDCS. In these situations, the new claim is an EDCS exclusion and the paper folder becomes the official record for the entire case. For a list of EDCS exclusion claims, see DI 81010.030 - Certified Electronic Folder (CEF) Exclusions. Any associated CEF must be converted to paper.

If a CEF claim is pending at the DDS when the FO begins an EDCS exclusion claim, then the following applies: