A CE is a physical or mental examination or test purchased from a medical source, at the Social Security Administration's request and expense, to provide evidence for a claimant’s disability or blindness claim.

Evidence is anything relevant to a claim that the claimant or anyone else submits or that we obtain. For a detailed explanation of evidence, see DI 22501.001B.

For the definition of medical source, see DI 22505.001A.4.

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  Acceptable medical source, or

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  Other health care provider who is not an acceptable medical source.

A claimant’s own medical source is a medical source who has provided a claimant with evaluation, examination, or treatment.

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  Provides or has provided the person with medical treatment or evaluation, and

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  Has or has had an ongoing treatment relationship with the person.

A qualified CE source is a medical source who:

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  Is currently licensed (or certified in the case of a psychologist, or otherwise qualified in the case of a speech-language pathologist) in the State in which he or she performs the CE.

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  Has the training and experience to perform the type of examination or test requested; and

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  Is not barred from participation in Medicare or Medicaid programs or any other Federal or federally assisted programs.

For policy on selecting a qualified medical source for a CE and on the qualifications required of support staff assisting a qualified source in performing a CE, see DI 22510.010.

For details about CE source licensure, see DI 39569.300.

For details about program integrity considerations, see DI 39569.200A.