Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program, Implementation ...

100assigning their Tickets to ENs (Kregel and Revell 2003). The Phase 2 SVRAs weinterviewed, however, were less likely to establish call centers or extensive marketingprograms. They also dedicated fewer resources to obtaining Ticket assignments frombeneficiaries already on their caseloads, so-called “pipeline cases,” that receive their Ticketafter signing an Individual Plan for Employment (IPE) with an SVRA. Their approach toTicket holders—which may be correlated with the reduced participation rates in the Phase 2states described in Chapter II—could be a result of at least three factors. First, these Phase2 SVRAs may have learned from the experiences of the Phase 1 states, realizing that existingclients were unlikely to assign their Tickets elsewhere. Second, caseworkers may have cometo see Ticket assignment merely as an administrative step that would not affect the servicesdelivered to pipeline clients. Third, it could reflect longstanding (pre-TTW) differences intheir approach to dealing with clients; one of the criteria for including states in Phases 1 and3 was that they were more “market proactive,” thereby causing Phase 2 SVRAs to appearless active as compared with their Phase 1 counterparts.Figure VI.4. Percentage of Competitively Employed SSA Cases Versus non-SSA Cases,FY 1997–200335%34%% Competitively Employed33%32%31%30%29%28%27%26%1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003SSANon-SSASource: RSA 911 (Case Service Reports) Public Use File.Recent interviews with eight Phase 1 and Phase 2 SVRAs also reveal that Ticketassignments from new clients—those who receive a Ticket before signing an IPE with anSVRA—continue to be a controversial issue. Transmittal 17 of the “Social SecurityProvider’s Handbook” (SSA 2002) allows SVRAs to submit a Ticket Assignment Form(Form 1365) without the beneficiary’s signature—that is, without his/her express consent—as long as the SVRA in question also submits the first and last pages of the IPE signed byboth the beneficiary and an SVRA representative. Six of the eight SVRAs we interviewedVI: State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency Participation in Ticket to Work