Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

A PPENDIX C
D EFINING THE F OUR A DEQUACY OF
I NCENTIVES G ROUPS
T
o conduct an AOI analysis, we must be able to identify beneficiaries who would fall
into the four legislatively defined groups and thus could find it difficult to obtain
services in the performance-based TTW environment. While the Ticket Act does not
define the AOI groups in a way that allows them to be identified straightforwardly using
SSA administrative data, the evaluation design report (Stapleton and Livermore 2002)
provides a method for creating reasonable approximations of the first two groups and for
using detailed survey data and analysis to identify the last two groups. These methods are
described below.
A. IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS WITH A NEED FOR ONGOING SUPPORT
SERVICES (AOI GROUP 1)
The evaluation design specifies a way to use SSA administrative data about beneficiaries’
primary impairments to identify individuals likely to need ongoing supports. The approach
considers impairments that are likely to result in:
! A frequent need for personal assistance or coaching (e.g., cognitive disabilities,
autism, other developmental disorders, traumatic brain injury, other severe
cognitive disorders, quadriplegia)
! A tendency to be able to work only episodically (e.g., psychiatric disorders)
! Possible disruptions of a person’s work activity (e.g., uncontrolled seizure
disorders)
! A gradual decrease in functional capacity, possibly making long-term
employment retention more difficult (e.g., multiple sclerosis, degenerative
arthritis)
The relevant sections from SSA’s listings of impairments, along with the associated SSA
impairment codes, are detailed in Table B.1. The rough approximation of the AOI group
based on impairments will be refined later using administrative data about other beneficiary
characteristics such as educational and employment history. For example, longitudinal SSI
earnings data or even historical FICA tax reports could possibly be used to assist in the