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  • Benefits of Partnership Plus
  • What is Partnership Plus and How Does it Work?
  • Common Partnership Plus Models
• Agency Decision-Making
• Ticket and the VR Process
  • Cost Reimbursement, Ticket, and the VR Process
  • Changes in Administrative Procedures
  • Outreach
  • Application
  • Plan Development
  • Case Closure
  • Facilitating Informed Choice for Beneficiaries
• Partnerships: The Key to it All
  • Interagency Agreements
  • Does Partnership Plus Require a Referral Agreement?
  • VR and an EN Partnering as a Single EN
  • Partnership Plus and Incentive Payments
  • Partnership Plus and Post-Employment Services
  • Partnership Plus and Supported Employment Services
  • VR’s Role in Developing Partnerships
• State Examples
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  • Learning More about the Ticket to Work Program
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Facilitating Informed Choice for Beneficiaries

Partnership Plus works best if VR counselors provide beneficiaries with enough information to make informed choices about their options under the Ticket program. Although the Ticket should be discussed at several points in the VR process (see DVR Rehabilitation Process Chart (DOC)), discussing the Ticket is particularly important at three points in the VR process.

Opening a Beneficiary’s VR Case

State VR agencies can still choose on a case-by-case basis whether to serve a beneficiary under CR or as an EN under the Ticket program. While this decision has implications for how VR can seek compensation for SSA, it does not have a lot of implications for beneficiaries since beneficiaries are protected against medical CDRs in both instances. However, when choosing to function as an EN, VR must obtain the informed consent to assign the Ticket to VR.

CR Cases: When serving a beneficiary under CR, the VR Counselor should explain that the beneficiary’s Ticket

• Is not assignable to another EN while the VR case is open.
• Still has value after VR case closure and can be assigned to an EN other than the State VR agency for ongoing support services, job retention services, and other types of services and supports to assist him/her in maintaining employment.
• Will be placed in the “in-use SVR” status while the VR case is open, extending the protection against medical CDRs to the beneficiary.
• Must be assigned to another EN within 90 days of case closure to provide continued protection against medical CDRs.

Ticket Cases: If VR chooses to serve a beneficiary as an EN, the beneficiary should be informed that his/her Ticket

• Is being assigned to the State VR agency.
• Is not assignable to another EN while the VR case is open.
• Will be placed in the “in-use” status that carries with it the protection against medical CDRs while the VR case is open.
• Can either continue to be assigned to the State VR agency after the VR case is closed or can be un-assigned and re-assigned to another EN within 90 days of case closure to provide continued protection against medical CDRs.

Both CR and Ticket Cases: For both CR cases and Ticket cases, the VR Counselor needed to explain that the continuation of the medical CDR protection will continue as long as the VR case is open “and” the beneficiary is making “timely progress” (as defined by SSA) towards his/her employment goals. The Counselor should explain that, starting sometime in 2010, MAXIMUS, the Operations Support Manager, will contact the beneficiary once every 12 months to explore how well the beneficiary is progressing towards his/her employment goal. Information on the criteria used to measure “timely progress” in meeting one’s employment goals should be given to every beneficiary. Check out a chart of the new “Timely Progress Guidelines” (DOC).

The beneficiary should be informed that she/he may stop working with the VR agency as any time if the beneficiary feels another EN can better meet his/her needs.

Case Closure

It is extremely important to talk to a beneficiary about the Ticket program when his/her case is being closed. If a beneficiary is served under CR, the VR Counselor may want to have this conversation a month or two before case closure to identify any services that will likely be needed to assist the beneficiary to maintain and advance in employment. The new Partnership Plus option provides three different options for addressing a beneficiary’s need for post-employment services.

1. The VR agency can purchase post-employment services from an approved vendor as it always has and submit the cost of these services as part of the agency’s CR claim for that beneficiary.
2. After VR closes the case, the beneficiary can assign his/her Ticket to an EN to receive needed post-employment services separate from VR.
3. After VR closes the case, the beneficiary can assign his/her Ticket to an EN with which VR has an agreement to purchase identified post-employment services from the EN as an incentive to make up for the loss of the Phase 1 Milestones and then charge the cost of these services back to SSA as part of the agency’s CR claim. If these services meet SSA’s definition of post-employment services (as defined in the VR Providers Handbook) and are paid for prior to the beneficiary reaching 9 months of SGA earnings plus $200, the SSA is likely to include the cost of these services in the approved CR claim.

Regardless of whether the beneficiary needs post-employment services or of whether the beneficiary is being served under CR o the Ticket program, the VR counselor should always inform the beneficiary of certain things. (See the Sample Ticket Script for VR Counselors (DOC).)