Medical & Professional Relations
The West Virginia DDS Professional Relations staff works tirelessly to establish and maintain productive relationships with medical providers and medical facilities throughout our state.
Our Professional Relations Officers (PROs) make informational presentations to the professional community about Social Security’s need for timely, accurate and complete medical information, and educate doctors, hospital staff, and other health professionals about how that information is used to evaluate disability. They also recruit and train physicians (medical and osteopathic doctors), psychologists, and other health professionals to become consultative examination (CE) providers for our state.
Our Professional Relations Staff
The West Virginia DDS Professional Relations staff is available to help our vendors and providers with any questions or problems they may have. Each Professional Relations Officer has a specific geographic area of responsibility in our state (see below), although any PRO can provide assistance if your local PRO is not available.
| PRO contact | Counties | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Jammie Ferrell |
|
||
John Triplett |
|
||
Donald Ewanus |
|
| Janet (Michelle) Chapman Manager, Professional Relations / Fiscal |
304·353·3588 |
|---|---|
| Johnette Graff Supervisor, Professional Relations |
304·353·3586 |
| Lela Triplett Professional Relations Associate, Clarksburg |
304·624·0219 |
| Debra Lemon Professional Relations Associate, Charleston |
304·353·4258 |
Helpful Links
If you have received a request for medical records or a request for evidence from our DDS, or have provided evidence, you may be interested in the following links:
- Form SSA-827: SSA and its State DDSs use form SSA-827, “Authorization to Disclose Information to the Social Security Administration (SSA)”, to obtain medical and other information needed to determine whether a claimant is disabled. Its efficient handling and widespread acceptance is critical to the success of the disability programs. Each year, the West Virginia DDS sends tens of thousands of requests for information on behalf of claimants, and a signed SSA-827 accompanies each request.
- e-827: SSA now permits their "Authorization to Disclose Information to the Social Security Administration" (Form SSA-827) to be electronically signed.
- Electronic Records Express (ERE): ERE is an initiative by Social Security and State DDSs to offer electronic options for submitting health and school records related to disability claims.
- Explanation of Benefits: Do you have questions about payments for records that you have submitted to DDS? This online Explanation of Benefits service allows you to view, save, and print individual or multiple EOB statements from the Disability Determination Section.
Employment Opportunities
If you are a physician (medical or osteopathic doctor), a psychiatrist or a Ph.D.-level psychologist, and you are interested in doing consultant work in our Clarksburg or Charleston office, please contact one of the following:
| Charleston | Clarksburg |
|---|---|
Anita Cecil |
Pauline Collins |
This and more information about performing consultant work for our DDS is available for download as a one-page document.
More Employment Opportunities
The West Virginia DDS relies on hospitals, clinics, mental health facilities, physicians, psychologists, speech/language pathologists, and other professionals from around the state to perform consultative examinations on claimants who have applied for disability benefits. There is no commitment and we provide training, flexible scheduling, competitive fees and complimentary state-of-the-art teledictation services.
If you are a medical professional specializing in fields including – but not limited to – family practice, internal medicine, physiatry, psychiatry, psychology (master's-level), pediatrics, or speech-language pathology, and are interested in performing consultative examinations for our agency, please contact:
Johnette Graff
500 Quarrier Street
Suite 500
Charleston, WV 25301
Phone: 304·353·3586
A detailed guide covering general requirements for consultative examination reports can be found in Consultative Examinations: A Guide for Health Professionals (also known as the “Green Book”).