Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

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TTW. In the past, SSA systems have not facilitated this activity and, historically,
relatively few automated resources were devoted to disability work issue cases. 2
! EN Payment System. Developing and administering the EN payment system
has proven to be particularly challenging due to a number of complicating
factors:
- The outcome payment system presents a challenge because of the
difficulty in determining the month when disability benefits equal zero.
This is particularly difficult for DI beneficiaries, because of factors such
as expedited reinstatement, provisional payments, the trial work period,
and discrepancies between actual payments and what should have been
paid (i.e., adjustments for past overpayments and underpayments).
Retroactive payment adjustment entries are often made in the SSA
administrative data files, changing payment history to reflect what it
should have been, rather than what was actually paid, further
complicating the process for determining Ticket payments. The payment
system cannot handle over- and under-payments automatically; it must be
done manually, so dealing with over- and under-payments will be
problematic if there are a large number, as there might well be because of
past delays in obtaining and posting accurate earnings documentation.
- Milestone and outcome payments interact in that milestone payments
cannot be made once the outcome payments have started (that is, once
benefits equal zero). The payment system must address this interaction.
- The interaction between DI and SSI payments for concurrent
beneficiaries is a complicating factor. When DI benefits are stopped
because of work or earnings, SSI benefits generally increase. SSA has had
to develop an approach to integrate DI and SSI earnings and payment
postings. This enhancement to the payment system was implemented as
part of the Disability Control File in late November 2002.
- The interaction between TTW and the traditional SVRA payment system
must be recognized. SSA must be able to check for SVRA involvement
prior to making TTW payments. If there have been requests for
traditional reimbursement after a Ticket is assigned, then this precludes
the Ticket payment. Conversely, a payment to an EN before a request for
payment from VR will preclude payment to the VR.
- Over time, individual beneficiaries may use multiple ENs, which means
that Ticket payments may need to be split among multiple ENs.
2 SSA’s new automated system, eWork, will automate the collection and documentation
of earnings information and is scheduled to be piloted starting November 2003.
III: TTW Early Implementation