METHODOLOGY AND INDEPENDENCE
How these opinions are prepared.
This page is written for two readers: the attorney deciding whether to retain me, and the adjudicator who finds my name on an opinion and wants to know how it was produced.
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Complete record review.
I read every page of the folder furnished to me, medical and non-medical, and I index what I reviewed by exhibit and page. If a part of the folder was not furnished, the opinion says so.
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Written claimant questionnaire.
The claimant answers a structured functional questionnaire in writing. It is attached to the opinion. It is not an examination or a telehealth visit, I do not describe it as one, and where it conflicts with the record the record controls.
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Function by function.
Limitations are stated in the terms SSR 96-8p uses: exertional, postural, manipulative, visual, communicative, environmental, and the mental functions in combined claims, with frequency defined as occasional or frequent where the term applies.
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A basis for every limit.
Each limitation is followed by the clinical reasoning and the exhibit pages that support it. A limit I cannot tie to the record does not appear.
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Contrary evidence addressed.
A separate section lists the evidence that cuts against the limitations, including normal findings, gaps in treatment, consultative examinations and activities of daily living, and explains how I weighed it.
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No ultimate-issue statements.
The opinion does not say whether the claimant is disabled, can or cannot work, or meets a listing. Those findings are reserved to the Commissioner.
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Onset and duration stated with their basis.
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Signed personally, with license number and NPI, a qualifications statement of the kind HALLEX I-2-1-30 contemplates, and a fee disclosure naming who requested the opinion and who paid.
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Program familiarity stated.
20 CFR 404.1520c(c)(5) lets an adjudicator consider a source's understanding of the program's evidentiary requirements. Three years as a VA disability examiner is that factor, and the opinion is written in the program's own terms: SSR 96-8p function by function, eight hours a day, five days a week.
Independence.
Flat fee, disclosed inside the opinion, never contingent on the outcome, never a percentage of benefits.
No referral fees paid to or accepted from any attorney, representative, or marketer.
Files the record cannot support are declined at the pre-screen, before any opinion is written, at no charge. I keep a count: the declination rate is published here once a quarter.
First quarterly figure: January 2027.
No pre-filled forms and no pre-agreed conclusions. I state what the record supports, which is sometimes less than, and sometimes different from, what was asked.
Capacity cap. I accept a set number of files per week so that every folder gets a complete read. When the week is full, the file waits or goes elsewhere; the read does not get shorter.
Each opinion is written individually by me. No templates beyond the section structure above, no staff drafting, no software-generated limitations.
Interrogatories answered in writing, at no charge, so an adjudicator who has a question gets an answer.
What this practice is not.
It is not treatment and creates no provider-patient relationship. It is not advocacy; I do not represent claimants and I do not give legal advice. It is not a guarantee of anything. It is a medical opinion on function, prepared from the record, by a licensed clinician who did this work for three years as a VA disability examiner and now does it in private practice, written so that the person who has to weigh it can see exactly where every statement came from.