Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime approval rate to current office and national benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Fong has maintained a 43% lifetime approval rate across 5,063 decisions, which differs from the latest Sacramento office average of 65% and the national average of 58%. These figures are derived from years of data, offering a view of historical trends. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for your individual hearing.
Office- and national-level breakdowns of fully favorable vs denial rates aren't currently published by SSA in the per-office disposition data. The judge's own breakdown is the detail we have today.
Approval rate over time
Year-over-year approval rate across Judge Fong's docket. Annual rates fluctuate with the mix of cases SSA assigns; the longer-run pattern is more informative than any single year.
Decision pattern
Over a 3-year tenure, your judge's approval rate has shown fluctuation, starting at 34% in 2016 and reaching 49% in 2017 before settling at 45% in 2018. This pattern reflects a period of adjustment in case management and evidence evaluation. While the latest reporting period shows a variance of 22 percentage points below the office average, these trends are common as judges refine their approach to complex medical evidence. The data suggests a shift toward a more consistent decision-making pace following the initial years on the bench.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Fong's bench. Judge-specific preparation guidance requires a corpus of public Appeals Council decisions involving each judge, which we haven't built yet.
- Bring a clean treating-physician record. Longitudinal primary-care or specialist notes spanning the disability period, with consistent symptom documentation, are typically the strongest evidence at hearing. A single month's records usually aren't enough.
- Don't rely on consultative exams alone. If your medical evidence is built primarily around a one-time CE finding, expect detailed questioning. Supplement with treating-source statements where possible.
- Prepare for daily-activity questions. Have honest, specific answers about a typical day. Answers that conflict with the medical record (in either direction) tend to hurt credibility.
- Expect transferable-skills probing. A vocational expert will usually testify about jobs available to someone with your limitations. Your representative should be prepared to cross-examine.
Hearing with Judge Fong? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Sacramento hearing office
The Sacramento Hearing Office serves a broad population across California, managing a high volume of SSDI claims. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains an overall approval rate that reflects the diverse nature of the cases heard in this region. You can expect a formal process focused on the specific medical documentation provided in your file. See the Sacramento Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your judge is selected randomly. Within the Sacramento Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 43% to 75%. This variance highlights why it is essential to focus on the strength of your medical evidence regardless of which judge is assigned. You can find more information on the office's overall operations on the Sacramento Hearing Office page.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
SSDI hearing approval rates — represented vs. on your own
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.