Social Security wants disability claimants to fill out one form, not two, when they ask for a hearing and need to update their medical record. The agency has proposed folding the medications form, HA-4632, into the recent-treatment form, HA-4631. Public comments are due November 23, 2026, and the agency expects about 760,420 respondents a year on the combined form.
What the proposed change does to HA-4631 and HA-4632
The plan comes from a notice the agency published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2026. It covers two forms that claimants use after a denial. HA-4631, titled Claimant’s Recent Medical Treatment, collects new treatment information. HA-4632, Claimant’s Medications, asks claimants to list medications they did not disclose earlier.
Under the proposal, a revised HA-4631 would absorb HA-4632. The combined form would ask for recent medical treatments, current medications, recent physicians and healthcare providers, visit dates and information, and any hospitalizations since the claimant last gave Social Security medical information. It would also encourage claimants to attach supporting documents.
Once the revised form is in use, the agency says it plans to discontinue HA-4632 formally. Until then, nothing changes. This is a proposal, not a rule in effect, and the notice says Social Security will send the collection to the Office of Management and Budget within 60 days of the notice.
Who uses the form and where it fits in a disability appeal
HA-4631 is meant for people whose claims for Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income were denied at reconsideration, the second step of the process. Social Security’s appeals page lists four levels: reconsideration, a hearing with an administrative law judge, review by the Appeals Council and a federal court action.
At the hearing stage, the notice says, the agency uses the form to update the record and help the judge assess the claim. That includes deciding whether to order consultative medical exams or call expert witnesses. A claimant who left a doctor visit or a new prescription off the paperwork can leave the judge with an incomplete picture.
The current HA-4631 is short. The claimant fills in Part B: any doctor seen since the case was last brought up to date, with names, addresses, phone numbers and visit dates, what the doctors said about the condition, and any hospital stays. The hearing office completes Part A.
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Why claimant advocates asked for one form
The notice says the combined approach was proposed at the request of advocates for representatives of Social Security claimants. Representatives are the lawyers and other qualified people who help claimants through hearings. The agency does not name the groups that asked, and it does not say how many forms are currently filed late or incomplete.
The practical logic is a single trip through the same facts. Treatment and medication history are two views of one set of records. A claimant who changed doctors or doses since the last submission would list both in one place.
The notice is signed by Mark Steffensen, the agency’s General Counsel and Chief of Law, Policy and Legislative Affairs. It does not say when the revised form would go into use, and Social Security has not announced a date. Claimants with a hearing pending should keep using whichever forms their hearing notice lists.
How many people the agency expects to file it
Social Security estimates 760,420 respondents a year for HA-4631. Of those, 518,875 would use paper, PDF or the Upload Documents option, and 241,545 would use Electronic Records Express, the agency’s online filing service. The agency puts the average time at 40 minutes per response, for a total of 506,947 hours a year.
The notice also assigns the work a theoretical opportunity cost of about $22.66 million a year, which Social Security says is not an actual charge to claimants. The notice’s own burden tables contain some inconsistent wage figures, a reminder that the numbers are estimates and open to comment.
For a claimant, 40 minutes is a useful planning number. Gathering visit dates, provider names and medication lists from several clinics is where the time goes. People with a hearing date on the calendar can start pulling that information together now, whichever version of the form ends up in use.
How to comment before November 23
The agency takes comments through Regulations.gov under docket SSA-2026-1090, through reginfo.gov, by email at OR.Reports.Clearance@ssa.gov, by fax at 833-410-1631 or by mail to the agency’s reports clearance director in Baltimore. Comments must arrive by November 23, 2026, and they become public once the agency reviews them.
The open question for a claimant with a hearing request in the pipeline is whether one combined form would make the paperwork easier or leave less room to explain a treatment and a medication separately. Anyone with an opinion has until November 23 to say so.
Is a hearing request coming, and a benefit check to protect after it?
The stake for a claimant is a hearing record with a missing treatment or medication, and then, once benefits begin, a first payment that arrives late or short with no plan for the first day.
The kit does not cover hearings or the forms above. The Social Security Check Protection Kit covers the payment side: the 2026 payment calendar, the three SSA forms that stop or pause collection (SSA-561, SSA-632, SSA-634) and a first-24-hours plan for a late or missing payment.
Get the payment calendar and late-payment checklist kit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
