How to Use SSA Electronic Records Express (ERE)

SSA Electronic Records Express is the Social Security Administration’s secure online portal for sending medical and school records into a disability claim. Medical providers, school professionals, attorneys, and claimant representatives use it to upload or fax documents that link automatically to the applicant’s electronic disability folder, the official record for SSDI and SSI claims. Most submissions appear in the folder within one to two business days.¹

Who Can Use the Portal

ERE is open to anyone who supplies health or school records to SSA or a state Disability Determination Services (DDS) office: hospitals, clinics, doctors, health information managers, school professionals, attorneys, and non-attorney representatives.¹ The school professional category is easy to miss. If a child’s claim depends on educational evaluations or IEP records, the school can send those straight through ERE instead of routing them through the family.

Providers who only need to respond to a records request have the easiest path. They can fax records without any account, or register on the secure website to upload directly. Representatives have more steps, covered further down, because they may also need to view the electronic folder.

The Three Ways to Send Records

ERE offers three submission methods. Pick based on how much you send and how often.¹

Individual upload through the secure website. One claimant at a time. This is the standard method for small practices and individual representatives.
Bulk upload through the secure website. Multiple claimants in one session. Useful for hospitals and larger clinics processing many DDS requests.
Fax. Available around the clock at the number printed on the request letter. No website registration needed. Place the barcode page first so the system routes the fax to the right folder.²

Fax is the shortest path for a provider handling an occasional one-off request. For anyone sending records regularly, the website is worth the setup because you get tracking numbers, confirmation receipts, and faster processing.

What You Need Before You Upload

Every submission needs two pieces of identifying information: the claimant’s Social Security Number and the barcode from the evidence request letter sent by the DDS office or SSA. That barcode carries a Request ID, a routing field code, and a site code that together tell the system which disability folder should receive the records.³ Skip the barcode or enter the wrong identifiers and the records may sit in limbo instead of reaching the adjudicator. Provider payment for the records can be delayed for the same reason.²

File Types and Size Limits

The secure website accepts .pdf, .tiff, .tif, .doc, .docx, .wpd, .txt, .rtf, .xls, .xlsx, .jpg, .bmp, .mdi, and .zip. Audio and video files are not on the supported list. Maximum size per submission is 50 megabytes.² Large imaging studies or long hospital charts that push past that limit have to be split into separate files.

One Claimant Per File

Each file you upload must contain records for one individual only. Sending records for several claimants means each one needs its own file with its own barcode as the first page.² Mixing two patients into one document lands medical evidence in the wrong person’s disability folder.

Rules for Bulk Uploads

Bulk uploads have their own constraints. All files in a single bulk upload must be headed to the same DDS office. Each file still holds evidence for only one person. You can include up to eight ZIP files per upload.⁴

One sorting step trips people up: separate the files into two groups depending on whether the first page carries a 2-D barcode. Files with barcodes go in one batch, files without go in another, and each batch is uploaded separately. Combining both in a single upload causes routing errors.⁴

Registration for Representatives

Attorneys and non-attorney representatives have to register before they can be appointed on any claim. Form SSA-1699 (Registration for Appointed Representative Services and Direct Payment) is the one-time form that captures your personal information, state bar status if you’re an attorney, and attestations to SSA’s rules of conduct. You fax it to the Office of Central Operations and SSA issues you a Representative ID.⁵ SSA will not process a Form SSA-1696 or recognize you as anyone’s representative until the SSA-1699 registration is complete.

For each individual claimant, a signed Form SSA-1696 (Appointment of Representative) has to be on file. Until the local field office processes that form, you cannot view the claimant’s electronic folder. That gap is the most common reason representatives see an access-denied error when they try to pull up a case.⁶ If access isn’t working, check with the field office to confirm the SSA-1696 has been entered.

Tracking a Submission

After a successful upload, the portal generates an electronic receipt with a unique tracking number and timestamp. You can check any submission through the portal’s status inquiry feature.

A “Processed” status means the records have been ingested into the claimant’s electronic folder. An “Error” status means something went wrong: a virus detected in the file, a password-protected document, or a corrupted file. A submission in error does not reach its destination. SSA’s ERE Customer Support Team contacts the user to resolve the issue, and the status updates to “Contacted” once they’ve reached out.⁷ Save your receipts. If a question later arises about whether or when evidence was sent, the timestamped receipt is the clearest proof.

The Five-Business-Day Rule at the Hearing Level

If a claim has reached the hearing level before an administrative law judge, all written evidence must reach the judge no later than five business days before the scheduled hearing.⁸ Miss the deadline and the judge can refuse to consider the evidence.

The exceptions are narrow. As long as no decision has been issued, the judge will accept late evidence if the delay resulted from:

SSA’s own action misleading you about the deadline or requirements;
a physical, mental, educational, or language limitation that prevented earlier submission; or
an unavoidable circumstance such as serious illness, a death in the family, records destroyed by fire, or a situation where you diligently pursued the records but the source did not deliver in time.⁸

Forgetting the deadline or not knowing about it does not qualify. Uploading through ERE and receiving an instant timestamped receipt is far more reliable than mailing paper and hoping it arrives in time. For representatives handling multiple hearing dates, submitting each piece of evidence as soon as it comes in, rather than batching near the cutoff, removes most of the risk.

Mistakes That Cause Submissions to Fail

Most ERE problems come down to the same handful of errors.

Using an old barcode from a prior request, or omitting the barcode. The records will not link to the correct folder, and provider payment tied to the request may be delayed.
Uploading a password-protected file. The system cannot open it. Remove the password before you upload.
Trying to send a file over 50 MB. Split large imaging or hospital records into smaller segments.
Putting two claimants’ records in one file. Each file must hold evidence for one person only.
Attempting folder access before the SSA-1696 has been processed. Give the field office time and check back before assuming there’s a system problem.⁶

When a submission does fail, don’t assume it went through anyway. Check the status in the portal. If you see “Error,” wait for the ERE Customer Support Team to contact you or correct the issue and resubmit. Treating a failed upload as someone else’s problem to catch is how evidence goes missing right before it’s needed.

1
Social Security Administration. Electronic Records Express
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Social Security Administration. Electronic Records Express – Frequently Asked Questions
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Social Security Administration. Electronic Records Express User Guide for Medical Evidence Providers
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Social Security Administration. Electronic Records Express Demo – Bulk Submission Information
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Social Security Administration. Form SSA-1699 – Representative Registration
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Social Security Administration. Appointed Representative Services – Section: Electronic Folder Access Questions
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Social Security Administration. Submission Status
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eCFR. 20 CFR 404.935 – Submitting Written Evidence to an Administrative Law Judge