Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

There is a strong negative relationship between participation rates and age, with those in
the youngest age group participating at a 2 percent rate and those in the oldest age group at a
rate of 0.1 percent. Although they represent only 22 percent of eligible beneficiaries, 45
percent of Ticket participants are under age 40. We also found that provider and payment
type vary with participant age; the percentages assigning their Tickets to an EN and using
each of the new payment systems increase with age.
Participation rates also vary widely among Phase 1 states, from a low of 0.3 percent in
three states to a high of 1.9 percent in one. A few Phase 2 states already have participation
rates in excess of those in some Phase 1 states. Provider and payment type also vary widely
across the Phase 1 states. The percentage of in-use Tickets assigned to SVRAs varies from
virtually 100 percent to 55 percent, and the percentage assigned under the traditional
payment system varies from 95 to 52 percent. A few states with particularly large shares of
in-use Tickets assigned to SVRAs also have relatively large shares assigned to one of the new
payment types, reflecting heavy use of one of the new payment types by each of the SVRAs
in those states.
We also found that participation rates increase sharply with the number of months a
beneficiary has been receiving disability benefits up to four years. Among impairment
groups that constitute at least 5 percent of eligible beneficiaries, participation rates are
relatively high for the groups with schizophrenia/psychoses/neuroses (1.1 percent), major
affective disorders (0.9 percent), mental retardation (0.9 percent), and nervous system
disorders (0.9 percent) and relatively low for musculoskeletal system (0.4 percent) and
circulatory system (0.3 percent) disorders. One smaller impairment group, severe hearing
disorders, has a participation rate that is much higher than any other (4.4 percent).
As mentioned in the introduction, subsequent reports will analyze these patterns in
more detail, particularly the extent to which specific characteristics influence participation
after controlling for the effects of other characteristics. We will also pay close attention to
factors that explain why participation rates vary among states and whether those states
provide lessons for increasing future participation.
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IV: Early Participation Patterns