You must upload all evidence, reports, and forms submitted by external sources (e.g., the Field Office, claimants, applicants, representatives, and third parties) to the Certified Electronic Folder (CEF).

When you receive paper source documents, scan the source documents using onsite scanning or send the documents to the contract scanner. Follow local operating procedures to determine when to scan documents locally in the DDS or when to send to the contract scanner.

NOTE: No longer retain documents that are locally scanned in the DDS; once you verify that the document is accessible in the CEF, destroy it (see Document Retention and Destruction DI 81020.055).

When you receive evidence via email or on a Compact Disc (CD), accept and print the evidence, then add the evidence to the CEF using one of the following actions:

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  scan the evidence using onsite scanning; or

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  send the evidence to the contract scanner.

  (Follow local operating procedures to determine when to scan documents locally in the DDS or when to send to the contract scanner)

If you received the evidence via email, inform the sender that email is not secure and advise the sender not to send any additional personal information to the DDS via email. Advise the sender to mail or fax copies of the records, or use the ERE website.

NOTE: Evidence received electronically can be uploaded to the CEF using the Electronic Records Express (ERE) website. When using ERE to add evidence to the CEF you do not need to print the evidence. You must use the correct indexing information, including the SSN, to ensure that the document is added to the correct electronic folder.

Reminder: We consider original medical tests such as x-ray films and original ultrasound pictures irrelevant evidence and must be returned to the sender. We consider interpretation reports of such test relevant evidence and must be scan into the CEF. (See Documenting the Disability Folder - Disability Determination Service (DDS) DI 20503.001).

The contract scanner scans source documents sent directly to them. However, if the source documents have missing or unreadable barcodes, the contract scanner:

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  Returns the evidence to the DDS; or

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  Scans the documents, which subsequently must be manually indexed by the DDS. For more information about manual indexing, see Document Management Architecture (DMA) Barcodes and Document Indexing DI 81020.035.

Medical evidence received electronically from ERE-registered providers or copy services (e.g., SMART Document Solutions, ChartOne) via ERE are automatically uploaded to the CEF. For more information, see Other Services ER 00101.125.

If evidence with a DMA barcode is received via fax, it automatically uploads to the CEF.

The Medical Evidence Gathering and Analysis through Health Information Technology (MEGAHIT) system obtains medical evidence via health IT by generating an electronic request to a Health Information Exchange (HIE) if:

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  one or more health IT participating sources are listed in EDCS; and

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  a signed and dated SSA-827 (Authorization to Disclose Information to the Social Security Administration) image is in the electronic folder (EF).

If there are multiple claims on a case, MEGAHIT transmits only one electronic request to the HIE.

If there are multiple health IT participating sources listed on the EDCS case, MEGAHIT sends only one electronic request to the appropriate HIE.

When MEGAHIT sends an electronic request, it adds a “HIT Request” document to the yellow back section of the EF to identify the following:

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  the listed EDCS source(s) from which health IT records were requested,

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  the HIE(s) processing the request,

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  the requested date range of medical records (when available), and

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  the date the request was made.