RFC form: what residual functional capacity means and how to get the form completed.
Residual functional capacity is Social Security's term for the most you can still do in a work setting on a regular and continuing basis, eight hours a day, five days a week, despite your impairments. The RFC form, sometimes called an RFC questionnaire or physical capacities evaluation, is where a medical source states those limits.
Open the RFC form.
Free. No email required. Built around SSA's function-by-function categories, with a line for the basis and records under every limit.
How the RFC decides the case.
At steps four and five of the sequential evaluation, the judge compares your RFC with the demands of your past work and of other work. The difference between "can lift 20 pounds occasionally and stand six hours" and "can lift 10 pounds occasionally and stand two hours" is the difference between light work and sedentary work, and for many claimants over 50 that difference decides the claim under the medical-vocational rules.
Physical and mental RFC.
Physical RFC covers exertional, postural, manipulative, visual, communicative and environmental limits. Mental RFC covers understanding and memory, concentration and persistence, social interaction and adaptation. I write physical and combined opinions; the mental component in a combined claim is grounded in the treating record. I do not take mental-only claims at this time.
When your doctor won't complete it.
Ask once more, in writing, and attach the form; some practices refuse verbal requests and accept written ones. Ask whether a physician assistant or nurse practitioner in the practice will complete it. If the answer is still no, an independent clinician can complete it from your complete records. That is what I do. I review the file, tell you free of charge whether it supports a statement, and if it does I complete the form and attach a narrative that cites your records page by page.