Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

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36 assessment will be made in 2004 when we have completed the full round of EN and SVRA site visits, including interviews with providers in Phase 2 states. The quantitative information, in contrast, is more current and covers all TTW Phase 1 and Phase 2 states. This section focuses on the operational developments SSA has made during the past 12 months. The early experience of creating the TTW rules and procedures and the initial rollout in the Phase 1 states was covered in the preliminary process analysis (Livermore et al. 2003). Using that report as background, we focus on the issues that remain in flux, particularly the system for making Ticket payments and the improvements SSA continues to make in the administrative data systems required to manage the program. Overall, it is clear that SSA has made great progress in developing a system that diverges dramatically from past agency practice. TTW has required SSA to develop new systems to integrate information from the SSI and DI programs on a scale never before attempted. In doing so, SSA has not only made the TTW program fully operational (although some rough edges remain), but it has also begun to produce a new way of seeing things at SSA that could have long-term effects on the way the agency deals with its disability beneficiaries. In reviewing the rollout experience, we begin with the schedule. We then turn to the early experience with the TTW operational systems from the perspectives of SSA, the Program Manager, the SVRAs, and ENs. We also present monthly participation statistics for the Phase 1 and 2 states. Statistics on participant characteristics appear in Chapter IV. A. ROLLOUT SCHEDULE The Ticket Act was passed and became P.L. 106-170 on December 19, 1999. Throughout 2000 and 2001, SSA prepared to implement the program (Table III.1) in phases. Phase 1 was implemented in 13 states beginning in February 2002, and Phase 2 in another 20 states plus the District of Columbia beginning in November 2002 (Table III.2). Phase 3 of the program will be implemented in the remaining 17 states and the U.S. territories beginning in November 2003. TTW was initially to be rolled out in early 2001, but the actual rollout was substantially delayed because the final program rules were delayed in publishing. Tickets were released gradually in the Phase 1 states. Based on the terminal digit of the eligible beneficiaries’ Social Security numbers, Tickets were mailed to eligible beneficiaries according to the following schedule: • February 2002 10% of eligible beneficiaries • April 2002 20% of eligible beneficiaries • May 2002 30% of eligible beneficiaries • June 2002 40% of eligible beneficiaries III: TTW Early Implementation
37 Table III.1: TTW Implementation Milestones Leading up to the Phase 1 Ticket Release Time Period December 17, 1999 Implementation Activity or Milestone Ticket Act enacted, establishing the Ticket to Work Program 2000 Throughout year August to December September 29 November 13 December 28 SSA Office of Employment Support Programs (OESP) begins to develop principal policies and rules in consultation with SSA deputy commissioners Draft Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) negotiated with the Office of Management and Budget The Program Manager contract was signed with MAXIMUS, Inc. Selection of 13 Phase 1 states announced NPRM published, starting the 60-day public comment period 2001 Throughout year February 26 April 13 October to December December 28 Recommendations for resolving major issues raised by public comments on the NPRM were considered by deputy commissioners NPRM public comment period ended. SSA received public comments from over 400 interested parties, including federal, state, and local agencies; employers; organizations and advocates for people with disabilities; rehabilitation service providers; disability beneficiaries; and others Requests for proposals on EN contracts were published Draft final Ticket to Work regulations negotiated with OMB Final Ticket to Work regulations published 2002 February February 5 Selection of 2 and 3 states announced Tickets were released to eligible beneficiaries in the Phase 1 states SOURCE: Livermore et al. (2003). III: TTW Early Implementation
Page 1 and 2:
Contract No.: 0600-03-60130 MPR Ref
Page 3 and 4: A CKNOWLEDGMENTS This report benefi
Page 5 and 6: C ONTENTS Chapter Page ACRONYMS ...
Page 7 and 8: vii Chapter Page V (continued) D. C
Page 9 and 10: A CRONYMS ABIL AIDS AWICs AOI BPAO
Page 11 and 12: E XECUTIVE S UMMARY T he Ticket to
Page 13 and 14: Overall, we found that SSA has impl
Page 15 and 16: money on their TTW operations. For
Page 17 and 18: xvii CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS SSA fa
Page 19 and 20: C HAPTER I O VERVIEW OF THE T ICKET
Page 21 and 22: The TTW program and other elements
Page 23 and 24: A. EVALUATION COMPONENTS: GOALS, SC
Page 25 and 26: 7 ! How many beneficiaries particip
Page 27 and 28: 9 B. PURPOSE AND ORGANIZATION OF TH
Page 29 and 30: C HAPTER II S TRUCTURE AND B ACKGRO
Page 31 and 32: In reality, however, the success of
Page 33 and 34: MAXIMUS to serve as the Program Man
Page 35 and 36: 17 4. Participate in the activities
Page 37 and 38: N Decision Reversed Request SSA Rev
Page 39 and 40: 21 c. Dispute Resolution In a progr
Page 41 and 42: Table II.1: Outcome-Only and Milest
Page 43 and 44: milestone payment is equal to 34 pe
Page 45 and 46: Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage da
Page 47 and 48: 29 3. Related Initiatives TTW has n
Page 49 and 50: SSA Demonstrations. SSA plans to im
Page 51 and 52: Protection and Advocacy. The SSA-fu
Page 53: C HAPTER III TTW EARLY I MPLEMENTAT
Page 57 and 58: Ticket-eligible beneficiaries were
Page 59 and 60: 41 TTW. In the past, SSA systems ha
Page 61 and 62: information in SSA’s records cont
Page 63 and 64: work period automation and tracking
Page 65 and 66: Systems and Infrastructure. The Pro
Page 67 and 68: 49 asked the Program Manager for a
Page 69 and 70: 51 • The first payment for each b
Page 71 and 72: currently being addressed relate to
Page 73 and 74: payment system. Only one SVRA (Okla
Page 75 and 76: SVRA personnel have consistently ex
Page 77 and 78: 59 • Are SVRAs permitted to requi
Page 79 and 80: Table III.4: ENs and ENs with Ticke
Page 81 and 82: Payment System. Many ENs do not bel
Page 83 and 84: example, reporting lags inherent in
Page 85 and 86: eceived only small amounts thus far
Page 87 and 88: SVRA services for Ticket clients; (
Page 89 and 90: C HAPTER IV E ARLY P ARTICIPATION P
Page 91 and 92: 73 Figure IV.2: Cumulative Number o
Page 93 and 94: point in the Phase 1 rollout. For P
Page 95 and 96: 77 Figure IV.7: First Assignments a
Page 97 and 98: 79 Figure IV.8: Ticket Participatio
Page 99 and 100: 81 Figure IV.10: Ticket Participati
Page 101 and 102: 83 states. This finding suggests th
Page 103 and 104: There is a strong negative relation
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C HAPTER V C ASE S TUDIES OF E IGHT
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89 A. SERVICE MODELS AND TARGETED C
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Although the director was initially
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Clients who assign their Tickets to
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session. Those who miss their appoi
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interview. While this is time consu
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claim employer tax credits. Through
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these individuals, because they typ
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103 F. RELATIONS WITH OTHER ORGANIZ
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eneficiaries to meet that standard.
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IDR representatives said that to da
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substantiate wages, and clients are
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services? Unfortunately, for ENs to
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Manager. At present, this is only p
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stubs: the need for beneficiaries t
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C HAPTER VI A DEQUACY OF I NCENTIVE
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We have also begun to analyze admin
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viewed as lacking the productive ca
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assist in the identification of ind
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eneficiaries. In examining results
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127 E. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The
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C HAPTER VII C ONCLUSIONS AND I MPL
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noticeably low, and, among the very
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Act. At the same time, some ENs hav
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Another change requiring considerat
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C HAPTER VIII N EXT S TEPS FOR THE
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prior to September 2003 and had not
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R EFERENCES Adequacy of Incentives
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A PPENDIX A D ATA T ABLES C ORRESPO
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A-3 Table A.2 Cumulative Number of
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A-5 Table A.4 Percentage of Tickets
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A-7 Table A.6 Percentage of Tickets
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A-9 TABLES SHOWING CHARACTERISTICS
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A-11 Table A.10 Ticket Participatio
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A-13 Table A.12 Ticket Participatio
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A-15 Table A.14 Percentage of In-Us
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A PPENDIX B P ROVIDER-SPECIFIC C AS
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informed beneficiaries that state V
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e considerably more successful if S
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them for employment. It was during
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working but are still receiving SSI
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B.11 client over a four-year period
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B.13 placing SSA beneficiaries than
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B.15 that came in for an initial ap
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B.17 all benefits; therefore, EES d
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B.19 outreach program. As noted pre
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B.21 remained employed. 3 Because o
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B.23 estimate of the financial loss
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B.25 Social Security benefits. IDR
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B.27 have to submit pay stubs twice
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B.29 Bridges still provides the 10-
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B.31 While she used to have a polic
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B.33 8. Oklahoma Department of Reha
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B.35 Beneficiaries interested in as
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B.37 permits agency budgets to be c
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A PPENDIX C D EFINING THE F OUR A D
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B. IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUALS WITH A N
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“work and receive full cash benef
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