What the ISP-2519 is for
The CPP disability benefit pays a monthly amount to contributors who can’t work because of a mental or physical disability that is both severe and prolonged. Severe means the disability regularly stops the person from doing any type of substantially gainful work. Prolonged means it’s long-term and of indefinite duration, or likely to result in death. Service Canada makes that decision, and it looks at the objective medical findings, the functional limitations reported by the patient and by you, and the patient’s age, education, and work experience together.
The ISP-2519 is the medical half of the application. The patient files the application itself, the ISP1151, separately, and shouldn’t wait for your report to send it, because the date Service Canada receives the application can affect when the benefit starts. A terminal illness has its own short form, the ISP-2530B Terminal Illness Medical Attestation.
Who completes it
The applicant completes Section 1 with their identification and contact details, and Section 2, the consent for Service Canada to collect personal information, which they sign. They also write their social insurance number at the top of each page. A doctor or nurse practitioner completes Sections 3 to 9, signs the declaration, and sends the report to Service Canada.
Patients usually pick up the ISP-2519, fill in Sections 1 and 2 at home, and drop it at the clinic, and a report missing the consent in Section 2 stalls. In Medulla, you send Sections 1 and 2 to the patient over a secure link before the visit. They complete them on the form from any device, and their answers land on the PDF you complete Sections 3 to 9 on, so Service Canada receives all 10 pages together.
How to fill in Sections 3 to 9
Section 3, Duration of relationship with the patient
Give how many years the patient has been in your care, the number of visits in the past 12 months, the date of the last visit, and the date you started treating the primary condition. Service Canada uses this to check it has the full medical history.
Section 4, Expedited processing for terminal and grave conditions
Complete it only for a terminal illness or a grave condition. Terminal means a disease that can’t be cured or adequately treated and is reasonably expected to cause death within 6 months, and you give the diagnosis, ICD-9-CM code, and onset. Grave means a condition on the list of severe and rapidly progressive conditions in Annex A. Service Canada aims to decide within 5 business days for a terminal illness and 30 calendar days for a grave condition. Skip the section otherwise, but don’t remove the page.
Section 5, Medical conditions, impairments, functional limitations and treatment
Use one page per condition, listed in order of greatest functional impact. For each, give the condition, the ICD-9-CM code, the onset, the impairment, and the functional limitations. Then give the prognosis, whether the expected duration is under or over a year, and whether the condition is recurrent, episodic, or continuous. List medications and other treatments with start and end dates and the response. Service Canada weighs the functional limitations alongside the objective findings, so describe what the patient can’t do, using Annex B for examples, rather than restating the diagnosis.
Section 6, Patient’s employment situation
Say whether you recommended the patient stop working, and from when. From a strictly medical standpoint, say whether you expect a return to any type of work and, if so, when and to what kind of work.
Sections 7 and 8, Other relevant information and supporting documents
Add planned investigations, pending specialist consultations, and the reason a prognosis is unknown. Then mark the reports you’re attaching: longitudinal clinical notes, investigation reports, specialist reports, or hospital discharge reports. You don’t need to send the whole chart.
Section 9, Declaration
Mark your profession, print your name, address, and phone or use a stamp, sign, and date.
Common reasons it’s delayed
- The diagnosis listed with no functional limitations.
- An unknown prognosis or frequency with no explanation in Section 7.
- Section 2 consent missing or with neither option chosen.
- Pages removed, when Service Canada needs all 10 pages back.
- No supporting reports for the conditions in Section 5.
Submitting and who pays
Mail the completed report and supporting documents to the Service Canada office that serves the patient’s province or territory, using the list that comes with the form, and remove the annexes first. If you return the report to the patient instead, they can upload it to My Service Canada Account, mail it, or drop it off. Service Canada pays up to $175 directly to you on receipt of an invoice that includes your business number, GST/HST number, or SIN, and the patient pays any amount above that.