Social Security's Revised Cardiovascular Criteria Lawsuit

The Social Security Administration published document C1-2026-13420 in the Federal Register on September 16, 2026, at 91 FR 58593. The document is titled “Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Cardiovascular Disorders” and is classified as a Rule. The Federal Register record identifies it as a correction of an earlier document, 2026-13420, and places it in SSA Docket No. SSA-2019-0013.

At a glance

• Agency: Social Security Administration, published at 91 FR 58593 on September 16, 2026.
• Document type: Rule, listed as correction C1-2026-13420 of prior document 2026-13420.
• Docket: SSA-2019-0013, with Regulation Identifier Number 0960-AI43.
• Regulatory weight: the Federal Register API flags the document as significant.
• Length in print: a single Federal Register page, from page 58593 to page 58593.

What the Federal Register record establishes about the rule

The primary record here is the Federal Register’s structured metadata for C1-2026-13420, not the rule text itself. That metadata establishes several things with precision.

First, the issuing agency. The Social Security Administration is listed as the sole agency, under agency record 470 in the Federal Register’s agency index.

Second, the document classification. The Federal Register assigns the type “Rule,” which distinguishes it from a proposed rule, a notice, or a presidential document. The title appears both as the document title and in the table of contents listing.

Third, the citation. The document begins and ends on page 58593 of volume 91 of the Federal Register, a one-page entry.

Fourth, the correction relationship. The field “correction_of” points to document 2026-13420 on the Federal Register API. That means the September 16, 2026 entry is tracked as a correction document relative to an earlier Federal Register document bearing the number 2026-13420. The metadata does not describe what was corrected or when document 2026-13420 was published.

Fifth, the regulatory identifiers. The rule carries Regulation Identifier Number 0960-AI43 and appears in the Unified Agenda under that RIN with the issue code 202504. The Federal Register’s regulation page for 0960-AI43 carries the same title, “Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Cardiovascular Disorders,” and lists the priority category as “Other Significant.”

Which parts of the CFR the rule touches

The Federal Register record lists two Code of Federal Regulations references, both in Title 20. One is Part 404. The other is Part 416.

Title 20 of the CFR houses Social Security Administration regulations. The metadata does not reproduce the regulatory text, so it does not show which specific sections within Part 404 or Part 416 the rule amends, adds, or removes.

What is established vs. what is alleged

This is not an adversarial matter, so there is no complaint, no allegation, and no defendant. The distinction that matters here is different: it is the line between what the Federal Register metadata records and what it does not.

Established by the record: the agency, the document number, the title, the type, the citation at 91 FR 58593, the publication date of September 16, 2026, the docket number SSA-2019-0013, the RIN 0960-AI43, the two CFR parts affected, the correction relationship to document 2026-13420, the single-page length, and the “significant” designation.

Not established by the record: the text of the rule, the substance of any change to the cardiovascular listing criteria, the effective date, and the content of the document being corrected. Nothing in the sources supports a statement about what the revised criteria require of claimants, consultative examiners, or adjudicators.

Where the rule stands procedurally

The rule is a published final-stage Federal Register document, not a court proceeding. There is no multi-district litigation, no case number assigned by a federal district court, and no judicial consolidation. A reader looking for a docket number in the MDL sense will not find one, because MDL stands for multidistrict litigation, a mechanism for consolidating federal civil cases before one judge, and it has no application to an agency rulemaking.

The relevant administrative identifiers are Docket No. SSA-2019-0013 and RIN 0960-AI43. The docket on Regulations.gov lists five supporting documents, each tied to the same docket:

• SSA Cardio NPRM Actuarial Memo (SSA-2019-0013-0006)
• IOM Adoption Chart (SSA-2019-0013-0005)
• Congenital Heart Disease Table A and B Cardio NPRM (SSA-2019-0013-0004)
• Cardiovascular Disorders CHILD Side by Side (SSA-2019-0013-0003)
• Cardiovascular Disorders ADULT Side by Side (SSA-2019-0013-0002)

The docket entry linked to this rule is SSA-2019-0013-0024. The Federal Register record shows a comment count of zero for that entry, a comment start date of September 16, 2026, and no comment end date. The field indicating whether the docket is open for comment on Regulations.gov reads false.

For background on how federal dockets and consolidation differ from one another, see MDL vs. class action: how the two procedures differ, and for the general mechanics of consolidated proceedings, how mass tort litigation works.

Key dates

• September 16, 2026: the Social Security Administration’s correction document C1-2026-13420 is published in the Federal Register at 91 FR 58593.
• September 16, 2026: the comment start date recorded for docket entry SSA-2019-0013-0024.
• No comment end date: the Federal Register record for that entry shows none.
• 202504: the Unified Agenda issue code associated with RIN 0960-AI43.

What this does not establish

Several things a reader might expect are simply absent from the record.

The sources do not state an effective date. The Federal Register field for “effective_on” is empty, and the “dates” field is null.

The sources do not contain the rule’s text. The metadata links to a full-text HTML file and a PDF, but the text itself is not reproduced here, so no statement about the specific wording of any listing criterion can be traced to these sources. An abstract and an action field are both null.

The sources do not identify the earlier document 2026-13420 beyond its number and its API path. Neither its publication date nor its contents appear in the record.

The sources do not describe the cardiovascular conditions covered, the medical evidence standards applied, or any listing level. They do not name any individual claimant or adjudicated case.

The record also does not show whether any comment period remains open, whether the agency received comments, or whether any subsequent correction is pending. A correction document is itself a Federal Register entry, and the record shows no further corrections attached to it.

Frequently asked questions

What is document C1-2026-13420?

Document C1-2026-13420 is a Social Security Administration rule titled “Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Cardiovascular Disorders,” published in the Federal Register on September 16, 2026, at 91 FR 58593. The Federal Register classifies it as a correction of an earlier document numbered 2026-13420. It carries Docket No. SSA-2019-0013.

Which regulations does the Social Security cardiovascular rule affect?

The Federal Register record for C1-2026-13420 lists two Code of Federal Regulations references, both in Title 20: Part 404 and Part 416. The metadata does not identify the specific sections within those parts that the rule changes. The regulatory text itself is not included in the sources reviewed.

Is there a lawsuit or MDL about the Social Security cardiovascular criteria?

No. Document C1-2026-13420 is an agency rulemaking published in the Federal Register, not a court case. MDL, short for multidistrict litigation, is a procedure for consolidating federal civil lawsuits, and it does not apply to this rulemaking. The identifying numbers here are Docket No. SSA-2019-0013 and RIN 0960-AI43, not a case number.

Can the public still comment on the rule?

The Federal Register record for docket entry SSA-2019-0013-0024 shows a comment start date of September 16, 2026, no comment end date, and a comment count of zero. The field indicating whether the docket is open for comment on Regulations.gov reads false. The record therefore does not show an open comment window.

What supporting materials are in the SSA docket?

Regulations.gov Docket No. SSA-2019-0013 lists five supporting documents: an actuarial memo, an IOM adoption chart, a congenital heart disease table document, and two side-by-side comparison documents, one for adults and one for children. All five are catalogued under the same docket as the rule itself. The record does not summarize their contents.

Sources

1. Federal Register: “Revised Medical Criteria for Evaluating Cardiovascular Disorders” (link, accessed 2026-11-03)
2. Federal Register: “Documents of type Rule” (link, accessed 2026-11-03)