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Your ODSP medical review: the package, the deadline, and what comes next

A brown envelope arrives and the letter inside has a date on it. Here is what the process is, who is meant to do what, and how long you have.

The deadline

A Medical Review Package must be completed and returned to the Disability Adjudication Unit within the prescribed 90 days.

The clock runs from the Medical Review Package the Disability Adjudication Unit mailed you. ODSP policy directive 2.9 →

If you want that as an actual date on a calendar, the deadline calculator will count it out from the day the package reached you. Deadline calculator →

What a medical review is

A medical review confirms that someone continues to qualify as a person with a disability under the ODSP rules.

The review date is set by the Disability Adjudication Unit when the disability decision is made.

Not everyone has one

No review date is set where there is no likelihood of improvement of the person’s disability.

What is in the package

The Disability Adjudication Unit mails a Medical Review Package. It contains:

✓Medical Forms Part A and Part B
✓a self-report form
✓a consent form
✓a summary of the original disability decision

The package arrives by mail from the Disability Adjudication Unit and says on it what to return and where. This page does not list form numbers or an upload path, because we have not verified which are current.

Who can complete the forms

More professionals than people expect, which matters if your family doctor has a long wait or you do not have one.

All sections

Physicians, psychologists, optometrists, nurse practitioners and registered nurses can complete all sections.

The activities-of-daily-living section

Occupational therapists, physiotherapists, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, chiropractors and social workers can complete the activities-of-daily-living section.

If the package is late, or does not go back

What the directive says happens

If the package is not returned, income support shall be cancelled, unless the person has a spouse who is eligible for ODSP income support in their own right, in which case it is reduced.

A cancellation for a package that was not returned takes effect the first day of the month following the month that the package was due.

The same directive also says this

A package received within 30 days past the due date may be accepted without a prior extension request, and extensions can be requested for extenuating circumstances such as hospitalization.

Where a late package is accepted within that 30-day window, the person is reinstated to the date income support and benefits were cancelled or reduced.

Which is the practical point: a package that is late is still worth sending, and an extension is worth asking for before the date rather than after it.

If the decision goes against you

The medical review date itself cannot be appealed. A decision that someone no longer qualifies as a person with a disability can be: that goes to an internal review and then to the Social Benefits Tribunal.

1
Ask for an internal review
To ask for an internal review of a decision, you must do so within 30 days of your receiving the decision. The decision letter says where to send the request. A result letter follows within 30 days of your request being received.
2
Appeal to the Social Benefits Tribunal
You must request the appeal within 30 days of receiving the internal review decision. The appeal is made on the Tribunal’s Appeal Form. Check the Tribunals Ontario website for the filing channels currently available before you send anything, because that is where the current options are published.
3
Ask about interim assistance
Interim assistance can be requested on the Appeal Form by someone who has been receiving ODSP income support or Ontario Works and for whom the decision being appealed is causing financial hardship.

Internal reviews and appeals: social assistance (Ontario) →

Common Questions

How long do I have to return my Medical Review Package?

A Medical Review Package must be completed and returned to the Disability Adjudication Unit within the prescribed 90 days.

What if my package is going to be late?

Two things the directive says. Extensions can be requested for extenuating circumstances such as hospitalization. And a package received within 30 days past the due date may be accepted without a prior extension request. Where a late package is accepted in that window, the person is reinstated to the date income support and benefits were cancelled or reduced.

Does everyone on ODSP get a medical review date?

No. The review date is set by the Disability Adjudication Unit when the disability decision is made, and no review date is set where there is no likelihood of improvement of the person’s disability.

Can I appeal my medical review date?

The medical review date itself cannot be appealed. A decision that someone no longer qualifies as a person with a disability can be: that goes to an internal review within 30 days of receiving the decision, and then to the Social Benefits Tribunal within 30 days of receiving the internal review decision.

Who is allowed to fill in the medical forms?

Physicians, psychologists, optometrists, nurse practitioners and registered nurses can complete all sections. Occupational therapists, physiotherapists, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, chiropractors and social workers can complete the activities-of-daily-living section.