You must contact (by telephone or letter) the claimant.
You may make a reasonable effort to involve a third party at any point in the process, but you may not discontinue attempts to develop evidence
requiring the claimant's cooperation until you make a reasonable effort to identify
and involve a third party, see DI 23007.010.
When the claimant does not comply with your follow-up request for evidence or action,
or does not attend the CE appointment, make a reasonable effort to identify a third
party when the Field Office (FO) has not identified a third party or has not documented
that the claimant refused to identify a third party. When you identify a third party, contact him or her and attempt to get him or her to cooperate with your request.
When you are not able to identify a third party, or if you identify but are unable
to involve the third party, stop attempts to get the claimant to comply with your
request or attend the CE appointment. When the FO has identified an additional third
party in Section 11 of the SSA-3368 Disability Report -
Adult, SSA-3441 Disability Report -
Appeal, or the SSA-454 Continuing Disability Review
Report, you must make a reasonable effort to involve the additional third party when the
attempt with the other third party was not productive. When the FO indicates the claimant
refused to identify a third party, do not attempt to identify a third party.
For steps to confirm a CE with special handling, see DI 22510.019D.
For claimants who require special handling, see DI 23007.001A.
For how to make a reasonable effort to identify and involve a third party, see DI 23007.010
NOTE: You must make a reasonable effort to involve the third party from the current level
of review. Do not use a third party from a prior folder or prior appeal level.