Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, has announced 52 new Compassionate Allowances conditions, primarily involving neurological disorders, cancers and rare diseases. The Compassionate Allowances program fast-tracks disability decisions to ensure that Americans with the most serious disabilities receive their benefit decisions within days instead of months or years. Commissioner Astrue made the announcement during his remarks at the World Orphan Drug Congress near Washington, D.C.

“Social Security will continue to work with the medical community and patient organizations to add more conditions,” Commissioner Astrue said. “With our Compassionate Allowances program, we quickly approved disability benefits for nearly 61,000 people with severe disabilities in the past fiscal year, and nearly 173,000 applications since the program began.”

The Compassionate Allowances initiative identifies claims where the nature of the applicant’s disease or condition clearly meets the statutory standard for disability. With the help of sophisticated new information technology, the agency can quickly identify potential Compassionate Allowances and then quickly make decisions.

Social Security launched the Compassionate Allowances program in 2008 with a list of 50 diseases and conditions. The announcement of 52 new conditions, effective in August, will increase the total number of Compassionate Allowances conditions to 165. The conditions include certain cancers, adult brain disorders, a number of rare genetic disorders of children, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, immune system conditions, and other disorders. In his speech that opened the Congress, Commissioner Astrue thanked the National Institutes of Health for research they conducted which helped identify many of the conditions added to the list.

The agency also is improving its online disability application process, which is already substantially shorter than the standard paper application. Starting April 21, 2012, adults who file for benefits online will have the option to electronically sign and submit their Authorization to Disclose Information to the Social Security Administration (Form SSA-827). This improvement allows applicants to complete disability applications in a streamlined online session, rather than printing, signing, and mailing paper authorization forms to Social Security offices.

In March, Social Security approved eight research projects through its Disability Determination Process Small Grant Program. This new program aims to improve the disability process through innovative research by graduate students focusing on topics such as the Compassionate Allowances program, Wounded Warriors initiative, homelessness and SSI, and disability enrollment issues.

For more information on the Compassionate Allowances initiative, please visit www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.

New Compassionate Allowances Conditions

Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome
Alobar Holoprosencephaly
Alpers Disease
Alpha Mannosidosis
Carcinoma of Unknown Primary Site
Cerebrotendinous Xanthomatosis
Child Neuroblastoma
Child Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
Chondrosarcoma with multimodal therapy
Cornelia de Lange Syndrome-Classic Form
Ewings Sarcoma
Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma with metastases
Fucosidosis - Type 1
Galactosialidosis - Early Infantile Type
Glioma Grade III and IV
Hallervorden-Spatz Disease
Hepatoblastoma
Histiocytosis
Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome
Hydranencephaly
Hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis
Hypophosphatasia Perinatal lethal Form
I Cell disease
Infantile Free Sialic Acid Storage Disease
Juvenile Onset Huntington Disease
Kufs Disease Type A and B
Lissencephaly
Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis Grade III
Malignant Brain Stem Gliomas - Childhood
Malignant Melanoma with metastases
Mastocytosis Type IV
Medulloblastoma with metastasis
Merkel Cell Carcinoma with metastases
Myocolonic Epilepsy and Ragged Red Fibers Syndrome
Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis
Obliterative Bronchiolitis
Ohtahara Syndrome
Orthochromatic Leukodystrophy with Pigmented Glia
Pearson Syndrome
Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease-Classic Form
Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease-Connatal Form
Peripheral Nerve Cancer - metastatic or recurrent
Perry Syndrome
Rhabdomyosarcoma
Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata
Schindler Disease Type 1
Smith Lemli Opitz Syndrome
Spinal Nerve Root Cancer- metastatic or recurrent
Stiff Person Syndrome
Tabes Dorsalis
Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome
Xeroderma Pigmentosum