Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

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the beneficiary off the disability rolls). The EN must submit a signed copy of each IWP to
the Program Manager. The EN must also develop and implement the plan in a manner that
gives the beneficiary the opportunity to exercise informed choice in selecting an employment
goal. According to final program rules, an IWP must include statements addressing:
1. The vocational goal developed with the beneficiary, including appropriate goals
for earnings and job advancement
2. The services and support necessary for the beneficiary to accomplish the
goal(s)
3. Any terms and conditions related to providing the services and support
4. The fact that the EN may not request or receive compensation from the
beneficiary for the cost of services and supports
5. The conditions under which the EN may amend the IWP or terminate the
relationship
6. The beneficiary’s rights under TTW—including to privacy and confidentiality,
to have a copy of the IWP, and to seek to amend the IWP—and of the
remedies available to the beneficiary.
Services provided under TTW could vary substantially depending on beneficiaries’
needs. A beneficiary with well-developed work skills and substantial work experience might
need only short-term assistance in identifying and getting interviews with appropriate
employers. For such a person, an EN would function generally as a job placement firm.
Some beneficiaries might need longer-term job training or vocational rehabilitation to
develop skills that would enable them to get and keep a job with wages high enough to move
them off the disability rolls. Others might need an EN to provide support services such as
transportation and child care to help them remain and function effectively in the workplace.
When beneficiaries make progress toward and achieve approved employment
objectives—that is, work for a specified numbers of months at the nonblind SGA level—
ENs may be paid for those outcomes. Overall, the TTW reimbursement system marks a
significant departure from the traditional cost reimbursement system for SVRAs, which is
discussed later. Under the TTW program, ENs may choose to be paid under one of two
payment systems: an outcome-only payment system or a milestone-outcome payment
system. The former provides a potentially larger total payment, with all payments occurring
only when the beneficiary is off the disability rolls; the latter provides somewhat lower total
potential payments but up to four initial payments that begin while the beneficiary is still on
the disability rolls but has achieved specific earnings milestones. The two plans were
designed so that the maximum total amount of payments made to an EN with respect to a
beneficiary under the milestone-outcome system would equal about 85 percent of the payout
available under the outcome-only system. An overview of the two systems is provided in
Table II.1.
II: Structure and Background of the Ticket to Work Program