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

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112Tickets each month from November 2003 through September 2004 based on the terminal digitof the eligible beneficiary’s Social Security number. 1 Batch mailings were scheduled three timesper month to ease the Program Manager’s call center workload in responding to telephoneinquiries from beneficiaries after the Tickets were mailed. In addition, Tickets were mailed toindividuals who filed new disability claims across the country during this period. In total, about 3.5million beneficiaries received Tickets during Phase 3. The Program Manager will continue tomail approximately 75,000 Tickets per month to people newly awarded disability benefits orotherwise newly eligible for TTW nationwide.Table VII.1. States and Territories Included in Phase 3 Ticket ImplementationAlabamaCaliforniaHawaiiIdahoMaineMarylandMinnesotaNebraskaNorth CarolinaOhioPennsylvaniaRhode IslandTexasUtahWashingtonWest VirginiaWyomingAmerican SamoaGuamNorthern Mariana IslandsPuerto RicoVirgin IslandsB. RULES, REGULATIONS, AND OTHER GUIDANCESSA continues to develop and issue regulations as mandated in TTW legislation;however, promulgation of many final regulations has been delayed. In August 2003, SSAissued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on the Continuation of Benefit Paymentsto Certain Individuals Who Are Participating in a Program of Vocational RehabilitationServices, Employment Services, or Other Support Services (Section 301 of the Ticket act).The proposed rule, 68 FR 45180, provides that, if a continuing disability review (CDR) isconducted with a beneficiary who is participating in an approved plan of rehabilitation,including an individual work plan (IWP) under TTW, benefits will not be terminated untilthe beneficiary completes the program. The rule makes it clear that TTW participants willbe exempt from a CDR based on disability. The public comment period closed onSeptember 30, 2003. SSA was reviewing comments as this report was drafted in spring 2005.In October 2003, SSA published proposed regulations on expedited reinstatement ofbenefits (Section 112 of the Ticket Act). This provision, sometimes referred to as “easy backon,” would allow some beneficiaries who have left the rolls for work to have their benefitsreinstated without filing a new application. SSA has received public comments on thisprovision and was in the final review process in spring 2005.SSA is also drafting regulations on Exemption of Work Activity as a Basis for a WorkContinuing Disability Review (Section 111 of the Ticket Act). This means that no CDR maybe scheduled solely because of an individual’s work activity. In other words, work activitycannot be used as evidence that the individual is no longer disabled and eligible for SSI or1 In both Phases 2 and 3, Tickets were not mailed during December.VII: Recent Program Implementation
DI benefits. The NPRM, signed by the SSA commissioner on June 4, 2004, was underreview by the Office of Management and Budget in spring 2005.SSA is drafting a final rule to refer eligible beneficiaries to agencies other than SVRAsfor rehabilitation services. Under previous regulations, SSA was required to refer allbeneficiaries to an SVRA for rehabilitation services. The TTW legislation repealed thisrequirement and substituted referral to an EN under TTW “or another program ofvocational services, employment services, or other support services” (Sec. 1615). SSA hasrepealed the referral requirement to SVRAs but has not initiated a referral process to eligibleENs while the rules are being considered.According to the SSA Quarterly Update on the Ticket to Work and Work IncentivesImprovement Act Implementation (February 2005), the agency is also considering proposedrules that would revisit several issues in the TTW final rules published in December 2001,including Ticket eligibility, SVRA participation, and EN payment provisions. Once theNPRM is published, SSA intends to hold town meetings with beneficiaries and otherstakeholders to obtain their feedback on the proposed changes. Details on what SSA isconsidering were not included in the update.113C. THE TTW CALL CENTERThe Program Manager continues to operate the call center, answering inquiries frombeneficiaries, ENs, SVRAs, and the general public. The center received about 270,000 callsduring the first 10 months of 2004. Most calls come from beneficiaries seeking informationon how participation affects their benefits and on the ENs serving their areas. Other callscome from EN and SVRA representatives who want to find out whether a beneficiary’sTicket is assignable, confirm that a Ticket has been assigned, or discuss information requiredfor payment. Although the call center has 62 staff, Program Manager interviewees said thatthe center had some trouble handling the volume of calls, which totaled about 65,000 to75,000 in some months during the Phase 3 Ticket mailing.The EN representatives we interviewed offered mixed reviews of the call center’sperformance. On the positive side, some ENs were pleased with the information andassistance they received, particularly during the application process; others said call centerstaff were helpful later on in answering questions about the payment process. Many saidthey frequently called to obtain information or solve a problem; others said they appreciatedthe occasional calls from the Program Manager staff to identify any other ongoing issues. Afew EN representatives singled out particular staff members as reliably helpful.On the negative side, however, over half of the EN representatives we interviewed saidthat the Program Manager staff had occasionally either provided inconsistent information orcommunicated poorly, although some said that the quality of service had significantlyimproved in the past year. Several EN representatives believe that the inconsistentinformation was a result of the fact that different call center staff gave different answers tothe same question. According to one EN representative, it was a question of “never beingable to get the same person twice.” For example, some EN representatives complainedVII: Recent Program Implementation
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A CKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Ticket To Work
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viiiChapterVI(CONTINUED)PageF. SUMM
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xChapterPageAPPENDIX A: TICKET TO W
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xiiTableVIII.3IX.1IX.2IX.3IX.4IX.5I
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xivFigureIII.5III.6III.7III.8III.9P
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xviIX.3EARNINGS OF BENEFICIARIES WI
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xviiiMIENBSNPRMOAGPABSSPSUSGASSASSI
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xxIn Phase 3, which began in Novemb
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xxiigroups of beneficiaries that Co
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xxivimprove TTW, therefore, is to f
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2of disability beneficiaries, and i
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4country. Phase 2 began in November
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Page Is Intentionally Left Blank to
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8Only a few beneficiary characteris
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10Figure II.2.Participation Rate, b
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12Figure II.4.First Assignments at
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14before Ticket, it is perhaps surp
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16was selected for Phase 3. This ma
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18All of the statistics in this sec
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Table II.2. Beneficiary Groups with
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22In all Phase 1 and Phase 2 states
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24Figure II.8. Ticket Participation
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26Adjustments for all other charact
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28In general, provider and payment
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30next report, we will conduct more
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32Figure III.2.Living Arrangements
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34• Less likely to have reported
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36Figure III.7.Prevalence of Diffic
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38are more likely than all benefici
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40Table III.1.Income and Program Pa
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42coverage through their own employ
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44sizable percentage of TTW partici
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46Overall, 9 percent of working-age
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48leave the rolls in the next year,
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50next year and in the next five ye
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52in their characteristics, levels
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54percentage points to 3.7 percent.
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56Figure IV.2. Phase 1 Ticket Recip
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58situation described in the preced
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60the end of the follow-up period w
Page 86 and 87: 62Figure IV.6. Average Monthly Bene
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Page 90 and 91: 66ENs were reluctant to expand serv
Page 92 and 93: 68As of July 2004, there were about
Page 94 and 95: 70But most EN representatives saw T
Page 96 and 97: 72Figure V.2. Number of EN Terminat
Page 98 and 99: 74received a total of just about $2
Page 100 and 101: 76Relatively few ENs have received
Page 102 and 103: 78According to their representative
Page 104 and 105: 80Five EN officials recognized that
Page 106 and 107: 82This was particularly true for so
Page 108 and 109: 84• Another EN representative fou
Page 110 and 111: 86• A third EN received 50 calls
Page 112 and 113: 88resolve administrative issues suc
Page 114 and 115: 90• Raise payments for SSI benefi
Page 116 and 117: 92Finally, the real and perceived w
Page 118 and 119: 94efforts to obtain Ticket assignme
Page 120 and 121: 96SSA payments to SVRAs under the T
Page 122 and 123: 98Figure VI.3. Total SSA Payments t
Page 124 and 125: 100assigning their Tickets to ENs (
Page 126 and 127: 102Table VI.1. SVRA Ticket Assignme
Page 128 and 129: 104case, the counselor selects the
Page 130 and 131: 106• Most of the agreements requi
Page 132 and 133: 108needs of SSA beneficiaries and,
Page 134 and 135: 110to the SVRA under the traditiona
Page 138 and 139: 114about submitting virtually ident
Page 140 and 141: 116To make EN recruiting efforts mo
Page 142 and 143: 118E. EN ENROLLMENTThe Program Mana
Page 144 and 145: 120beneficiaries who have achieved
Page 146 and 147: 122quarterly basis if they have rec
Page 148 and 149: 124SSA’s approval of systems spec
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Page 152 and 153: 128have accepted. But even at that
Page 154 and 155: 130For beneficiaries who express an
Page 156 and 157: 132rehabilitation counselors (Burea
Page 158 and 159: 134generated a payment to an EN gen
Page 160 and 161: 136the milestone-outcome payment ge
Page 162 and 163: 138system is used so infrequently t
Page 164 and 165: 140One option is for ENs to try to
Page 166 and 167: 142approximations. Our planned anal
Page 168 and 169: 144Figure IX.1. Ticket-Eligible Ben
Page 170 and 171: 146Table IX.2.TTW Participation Rat
Page 172 and 173: 148Figure IX.3. Earnings of Benefic
Page 174 and 175: 150Compared with other beneficiarie
Page 176 and 177: 152Like all other beneficiaries who
Page 178 and 179: This kind of mixed success in the e
Page 180 and 181: C. SVRA PARTICIPATION REMAINS STRON
Page 182 and 183: serving beneficiaries who are simil
Page 184 and 185: observe changes in their employment
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Mashaw, Jerry L., and Virginia P. R
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A-2Table A.1 (continued)Time Period
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Table B.1. DefinitionsB-2Variable D
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Table B.1 (continued)B-4Variable De
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Table B.1 (continued)Variable Defin
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B-8Table B.3. Participation Rate by
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B-10C. PARTICIPATION RATES BY BENEF
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Table B.6. Participation Rates by C
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Table B.6 (continued)Group Definiti
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Table B.6 (continued)B-16Group Defi
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C-2survey. Whenever possible, the i
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C-4given the large number of benefi
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C-6• Young SSI recipients who are
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C-8beneficiary may have had with EN
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C-10Table C.2. Overview of the Nati
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C-12Sample completes (n=1,178) and
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C.14Table C.3 (continued)AllIntervi
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C.16Table C.5. Final Weighted and U
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C.18Table C.7. Sociodemographic Cha
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C.20Table C.9. Health Status (Figur
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C.22Table C.11. Program Participati
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C.24Table C.14. Awareness of TTW (F
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C.26Table C.16. Employment Expectat
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D-2Table D.1. Selected Characterist
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D-4information from two pretest int
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