ACCESS Collaborates with Social Security Administration to Streamline Disability Insurance Applications
ACCESS patients can now authorize SSA to receive their records electronically—a step that can help cut their disability application processing times in half.
September 25, 2025
Access Community Health Network (ACCESS) is proud to collaborate with Epic and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help qualified patients receive disability benefits sooner. ACCESS believes that benefits assistance is a critical element of supporting our patients’ total health. ACCESS has a team of Patient Benefits Specialists to help patients understand and navigate health insurance coverage, financial responsibilities, and payment options by verifying benefits, assisting with enrollment in programs like Medicaid or Medicare and guiding them through the process.
Since implementation in late 2024, nearly 4,000 patients have authorized ACCESS and SSA to exchange their medical records electronically through Epic—a connection that modernizes the disability insurance application process, alleviates some of the administrative burden from our Patient Benefits team and helps cut application wait times in half.
“As health care providers, we see firsthand the stress caused by the financial burden that our disabled patients experience while waiting for benefits determination. Without disability payments, people can fall behind on rent and rack up debt,” said Michael Baran, ACCESS’ Chief Information Officer. “By simplifying the process, we have alleviated a tremendous financial challenge for patients. This is one reason why having a modern, interoperable technological infrastructure between ACCESS and SSA is so important.”
To be approved for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), patients must provide SSA with medical records that reflect a qualifying disability. This can be an arduous step in the application process. Today, the majority of patients around the country send their records to SSA through mail or fax—antiquated methods that take more time and increase the likelihood that patients accidentally omit required information in their applications.
“Congratulations to ACCESS for taking this step to help qualified patients receive benefits sooner,” said Sean Fry, Executive Advisor, Health Information Technology and Electronic Records, Office of Disability Policy. “By collaborating with medical record providers to receive patient records electronically, SSA can reduce typical application processing times for disability benefit allowances by almost 50%.”
ACCESS’ interoperability with SSA reflects the organization’s unwavering mission and supports the efforts of ACCESS’ Patient Benefits Specialists who support the total health needs of our patients and communities.
About Access Community Health Network (ACCESS)
ACCESS offers patient-centered, preventive, and primary care services to more than 150,000 patients annually throughout Chicago and suburban Cook and DuPage counties. As the nation’s sixth largest network of federally qualified health centers, ACCESS continues to innovate and evolve its patient-centered care delivery model to address the total health needs of our patients and improve their overall experience. For more information, visit: www.achn.net.