El Paso, Texas
El Paso Disability Lawyers for Social Security Claims in Far West Texas
Social Security's office locator splits El Paso between two field offices. The El Paso Downtown office at 600 Texas Avenue serves the central and west side ZIP codes along with Canutillo and Anthony, Texas, and the El Paso office at 11111 Gateway West Boulevard serves the east side, Socorro, Horizon City and the towns down the valley to Fort Hancock, along with Salt Flat and Van Horn farther east. Which hearing office an El Paso case goes to is less settled, because Social Security's own published records point the two offices in different directions, toward Albuquerque and San Antonio.
Downard & Associates represents adults in the El Paso area with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims, from the first application through reconsideration, an administrative law judge hearing and Appeals Council review. We are based in Lebanon, Tennessee, talk with Texas clients by phone or video, and take no fee unless you win.
The local offices
The El Paso Social Security Offices on Texas Avenue and Gateway West
Both El Paso offices keep Mountain Time hours, an hour behind Central Time in most of Texas.
El Paso Downtown, 600 Texas Avenue: Social Security's office locator places the Downtown office at 600 Texas Ave, El Paso, TX 79901. Its directions say to take the downtown exit from I-10, follow Kansas Street, which runs one way south, to Texas Avenue, and turn left; there is parking on site, including accessible spaces, and passengers can be dropped off at the main entrance. The office keeps weekday hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and its phone number is 1-866-964-6229.
El Paso, 11111 Gateway West Boulevard: the locator lists this office at 11111 Gateway W Blvd, El Paso, TX 79935, also open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays. Call 1-866-563-9310 or fax 1-833-515-0522. Both El Paso offices keep Mountain Time hours, an hour behind Central Time in most of Texas.
The two offices also differ on mail. For the Downtown office the locator gives a Kansas City mailing address, Social Security, NRC / FO E24, PO Box 416000, Kansas City, MO 64141, while for the Gateway West office it gives the street address. Whichever office serves you, send a reply to the address printed on the notice you are answering, or phone the office before you mail it.
A field office takes your application or appeal and checks the non-medical rules, but it does not decide whether you are disabled or hold hearings. On a new application, the medical decision is made by Texas Disability Determination Services, a state agency working under Social Security's rules, and a hearing request goes to a hearing office.
How we help
What Our El Paso Disability Attorneys Handle
SSDI rests on a Social Security earnings record, ordinarily your own, while SSI depends on limited income and countable resources and needs no work history. Adults are judged by one disability definition in both programs, and a single application can cover both. A parent's record can sometimes support an adult whose disability started before 22, and a late spouse's record can sometimes support a widow or widower age 50 or over; each depends on rules about marriage, dependency, the worker's record and when the disability began. The rest of the state is on our Texas disability lawyer page.
Downard has no office in El Paso. We meet with you by phone or video, and our attorney generally takes part in your hearing from Tennessee in the same way, even if you appear in person. Our clients are adults age 18 and older. We do not take VA claims or VA appeals, continuing disability reviews, cessation cases or cases about back pay alone, and we refer a case that needs federal court to affiliated counsel.
Hearing offices
Albuquerque or San Antonio: Where Social Security's Records Disagree
Read by office name, the hearing office list sends the Gateway West office to Albuquerque and the Downtown office to San Antonio.
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator names an El Paso field office on two lists. The Albuquerque hearing office, at Suite 200, 555 Broadway NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, has an entry called El Paso, printed under a New Mexico heading, and the San Antonio hearing office, at 10222 San Pedro Avenue, San Antonio, TX 78216, has one called El Paso (Downtown). Read by office name, the hearing office list sends the Gateway West office to Albuquerque and the Downtown office to San Antonio.
Two other Social Security sources do not match it. Appendix F of the agency's privacy notice for hearing records lists El Paso DT (office code E24) and a second El Paso entry under Albuquerque and El Paso (office code 817) under San Antonio, which puts the Downtown office with Albuquerque, the reverse of the hearing office list, and the office records behind the field office locator link both El Paso offices to the Albuquerque hearing office. Until Social Security brings these into line, go by your Notice of Hearing, which names the office handling your case. Our Albuquerque disability lawyer page and San Antonio disability lawyer page cover each office's wider territory.
Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is determined by the claimant's residence address, though you can ask, in a signed statement giving your reasons, to have a case transferred, and Social Security decides whether to do it. Social Security's hearings manual also lets it reassign some cases to another hearing office to relieve a temporary workload imbalance or increase productivity, only when the other office can hear and decide them more quickly. Social Security generally does not reassign a case this way when you have properly objected in writing to both a phone hearing and an agency video hearing, have not agreed to online video, and have not changed your residence. After a move, it generally still honors that objection when deciding whether to reassign the case for workload reasons, if doing so causes no added delay and nothing else calls for scheduling you another way. That practice is separate from the hearing-format rule, under which Social Security decides how you appear after a move. When Social Security moves a case to another hearing office for workload or productivity reasons, the office that receives it notifies you and your representative. Our hearing office directory lists every office with its field offices. For an in-person or agency video hearing, the Notice of Hearing names the place, so go by that notice for your own case.
Office by zip code
El Paso Area ZIP Codes and Their Field Offices
Each ZIP code below belongs to one field office in the locator, and the place names next to them are only a guide. These are samples rather than full service areas, and an assignment can change, so look up your own street address in the locator.
El Paso Downtown, 600 Texas Ave: 79901, 79902, 79911, 79912, 79922, 79930 and 79932 (El Paso), 79835 (Canutillo) and 79821 (Anthony, Texas).
El Paso, 11111 Gateway W Blvd: 79903 through 79908, 79915, 79916, 79918, 79924, 79925, 79934, 79935, 79936 and 79938 (El Paso), 79927 (Socorro), 79928 (Horizon City), 79849 (San Elizario), 79836 (Clint), 79838 (Fabens), 79853 (Tornillo), 79839 (Fort Hancock), 79847 (Salt Flat) and 79855 (Van Horn).
Las Cruces, NM, 2141 Summit Court (Albuquerque hearing office): 88063 (Sunland Park), 88008 (Santa Teresa), 88021 (Anthony, New Mexico), 88048 (Mesquite), 88001, 88005, 88007 and 88011 (Las Cruces), 88030 (Deming) and 88310 (Alamogordo).
Odessa, 2015 E 37th St (Fort Worth hearing office): 79830 (Alpine), 79843 (Marfa), 79845 (Presidio) and 79852 (Terlingua).
Across the lines
Anthony, Sunland Park and Big Bend: Neighbors on Different Lists
The state line runs through Anthony. The locator assigns Anthony, Texas (79821) to the El Paso Downtown office, but Anthony, New Mexico (88021), along with Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, to the Las Cruces field office at 2141 Summit Court, Las Cruces, NM 88011. Las Cruces sits on the Albuquerque hearing office list, so a claimant on the New Mexico side generally deals with New Mexico field and hearing offices from the start.
To the southeast, Big Bend country is assigned elsewhere entirely. Alpine, Marfa, Presidio and Terlingua ZIP codes go to the Odessa field office at 2015 E 37th St, Odessa, TX 79762, which the hearing office data places on the Fort Worth list.
Texas records law
When Texas Bars Fees for Records Requested for a Social Security Claim
For a provider to furnish a record requested under Texas Health and Safety Code 161.202
30days
Tex. Health & Safety Code 161.203
Under Texas Health and Safety Code section 161.202, a health care provider or facility may not charge a fee for a medical or mental health record that you, your attorney or another authorized representative request to support an application for SSDI or SSI, or an appeal of a denial. The request must include a statement or document from the agency that confirms the application or appeal. A provider may still charge when a state or federal agency is the one requesting the record.
Section 161.203 then requires the provider to furnish a record requested this way within 30 days after it receives the request. Section 161.202 also covers applications and appeals for some other public benefits, including Medicaid, Medicare and certain VA benefits, and section 161.204 makes it control over other Texas provisions that allow a fee. A records office's general fee notice does not override it, so mention the statute and attach the confirmation when you send the request.
Local treatment records
Records From UMC, The Hospitals of Providence, Texas Tech Health and the El Paso VA
University Medical Center of El Paso: UMC's medical records page links an online request portal and a release form in English and Spanish, asks for a copy of a government-issued photo ID, and takes the signed form by fax at (915) 521-7591 or by mail to the Medical Records Department, 4815 Alameda Avenue, El Paso, TX 79905. Release questions go to (915) 521-7690, option 2; option 3 reaches medical records reception.
The Hospitals of Providence: the system's records page asks you to complete its Authorization to Use and Disclose Health Information and bring it with a photo ID when you pick up the records; someone else can collect them with a photo ID and a signed authorization letter from you. Its Health Information Management Office is at 915-577-7650.
Texas Tech Health El Paso: its medical records page requires a completed, signed authorization and proof of the requester's identity and authority, and lists Medical Records at 915-215-4482 and fax 915-215-8614. The page says an authorization expires 180 days after signing unless it states another date or event.
El Paso VA: the medical records office page for VA El Paso health care offers records online after you sign in, or a signed VA Form 10-5345a by mail or in person at the Release of Information office, 5001 North Piedras Street, El Paso, TX 79930, on the second floor to the left of the main elevators. It is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and the page says requests can take up to 20 business days.
Hearings and deadlines
Hearing Format and Appeal Deadlines for an El Paso Disability Claim
To object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing, after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing
30days
20 CFR 404.936(d), 416.1436(d)
After a hearing request, Social Security sends a Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, and its ways to attend page lists four: in person or by agency video at one of its offices, and by phone or online video from a private location you choose. Under 20 CFR 404.936 and, for SSI, 20 CFR 416.1436, an objection to a phone hearing, an agency video hearing, or both must be made in writing within 30 days after you receive that notice. If you do not object, Social Security can schedule a phone or agency video hearing, though it can also schedule you in person or, if you agree, by online video; if you object to only one of those two formats, it can schedule you in person, by the other format, or by online video if you agree, and if you object to both, it generally schedules you in person or, if you agree, by online video. Online video is used only if you agree to it in writing, and a late objection or agreement needs good cause. If you move while the hearing request is pending, Social Security decides how you appear and can schedule a phone or agency video hearing despite an objection, though it considers the move only if you send evidence of your new residence; it can also use a phone hearing in a few other situations the rule lists. Our guide to hearing formats explains each choice and when Social Security moves a case to another office, and our disability hearings page describes the hearing itself.
A reconsideration request is due in writing within 60 days after you receive the initial denial, under 20 CFR 404.909 for SSDI and 20 CFR 416.1409 for SSI, and a hearing request after a reconsideration denial has its own 60 days under 20 CFR 404.933 and 20 CFR 416.1433. Social Security treats a notice as received 5 days after the date on the notice unless you show it came later, under 20 CFR 404.901 and 20 CFR 416.1401. A late request needs a written request for more time and good cause, so call us the week a denial arrives.
Common questions
El Paso Disability Claim Questions
Where is the Social Security office in El Paso?
El Paso has two, and the locator assigns your ZIP code to one of them: El Paso Downtown at 600 Texas Ave (1-866-964-6229) for 79901, 79902, 79911, 79912, 79922, 79930 and 79932, and El Paso at 11111 Gateway W Blvd (1-866-563-9310) for most of the east side, Socorro and Horizon City. Both are open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mountain Time; confirm your office and its hours at ssa.gov/locator before you go.
Is an El Paso disability hearing handled in Albuquerque or San Antonio?
It can be either, and Social Security's records do not agree on which El Paso field office goes where, so your Notice of Hearing is what settles it. The office holding the case does not decide how you take part. Social Security can schedule you in person, on agency video at one of its sites, by phone, or on online video if you consent, and the notice states the format and, for in-person or agency video, the address.
Can an El Paso hospital charge for records needed for an SSDI or SSI claim?
Not when the request comes from you, your attorney or another authorized representative to support the application or an appeal and includes the agency's confirmation. Texas Health and Safety Code section 161.202 bars the fee if the request includes a statement or document from the agency confirming the application or appeal, and section 161.203 gives the provider 30 days to furnish the record.
Which Social Security office serves Sunland Park and Anthony, New Mexico?
The locator assigns Sunland Park (88063), Santa Teresa (88008) and Anthony, New Mexico (88021) to the Las Cruces field office at 2141 Summit Court, which is on the Albuquerque hearing office list. Anthony, Texas (79821) goes to the El Paso Downtown office instead.
Discuss your claim
Ask for a Free Review of Your El Paso Disability Claim
Call (615) 255-4307 or complete the free review form, and you will hear back within 3 business hours. Have your latest Social Security notice, the date it reached you and the names of the El Paso clinics and hospitals where you are treated.