Pathways Program Synopsis
Wisconsin Pathways to Independence (WPTI) is a partnership between
people with disabilities, business and government. It offers a
comprehensive collection of services that, taken together, are designed to
remove or reduce barriers to employment for persons with severe
disabilities.
Barriers to Employment for Persons with a
Disability
As persons with disabilities, advocates, governments and the business
community work to reduce physical and technical employment barriers, there
remain other significant barriers to employment, including regulatory,
attitudinal, vocational and educational. Some of these key barriers
include:
- Income "cliffs" which reduce or eliminate financial gains
from work
- Prohibition against accumulation of wealth (retirement savings,
etc.)
- Loss of health care coverage which may mean the difference between
life and death
- Uncertainty about the effect of work on benefits
- Disjointed and at times conflicting sources of information and
assistance between the various local, state and federal agencies
- Poor acceptance by society of the contributions that can be made by
persons with disabilities
Approach
The key to WPTI is the comprehensive collection of services designed to
address all barriers to work, not just the physical ones, and to do so
within a single program. Although there will be many people participating
in a given Pathways team, the participant is working through a single
local agency to receive this assistance. The key components are:
- Benefits counseling
- Vocational/employment counseling, planning and support
- Long-term follow-up and intervention as necessary
- New regulatory policy and program tools
- Significant research component
- Full range of DVR project services for eligible participants
A key feature of the approach is the co-ordination of all of these
services through a single organization. These are independent service and
support agencies, usually locally based and non-profit. At the present
time each organization is contracted to serve a single group among the
four target populations. Pathways currently serves people with physical
disabilities, developmental disabilities, mental illness and AIDS/HIV, and
offers these services across a wide geographic area. However the program
is not yet available state-wide for each target population.
Once a participant’s individual needs have been identified, s/he may
be offered the full range of Pathways services or just selected services,
depending upon need and vocational goals.
Eligibility
To be eligible for WPTI services a persons must be receiving SSA
disability benefits and be between 16 and 64 and have an assessed
potential to eventually exceed the SGA (currently $740 month). In addition
the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation must authorize services and the
local provider must have a contract to serve persons within a given
disability "target" population, and the target group themselves
may have additional eligibility requirements.
Benefits Counseling
This is one of the key services that define Pathways and is mandatory
for all participants. Because the potential costs of work are so high,
knowledge about the impact of earnings both short and long term must be
certain. Pathways employees intensive training, upgrading, continuing
education and quality assurance efforts to keep the benefits counseling
services strong. Wisconsin contracts with Employment Resources
Incorporated (ERI) to train benefits counselors and assess the quality of
their services.
Full Spectrum of Vocational/Employment Services
A number of approaches are used specific to the target group that each
local organization is contracted to serve. For example, for organizations
serving persons with physical disabilities, the vocational services are
coordinated under a specific program called Vocational Futures Planning or
VFP. For persons served in Community Support Programs (CSP’s), the
vocational and employment services follow the Program of Assertive
Community Treatment or PACT model. In addition, Pathways contracts with
service providers that employ the Clubhouse model for persons with mental
illness. In each case, the Pathways service provider is applying a model
that has been determined to be appropriate for both the target population
and the provider.
Each of the models in one way or another provides assistance and
expertise in the following general activities:
- Vocational assessment / goals definition
- Vocational/academic training analysis
- Workplace accommodations analysis/ transportation needs analysis
- Job seeking support
- Employer contact and facilitation of specialized arrangements
- Ongoing employee/employer support
Long Term Follow-up and Periodic Intervention
Another feature of Pathways designed to break through some of the
traditional barriers is the long-term commitment to provide necessary
services as needed. Participants will begin the program with a fairly
intensive set of services, however after the initial set of services are
provided and either the participant has a job, or has returned to school,
they will enter a phase or status called "follow-along". This
defines a period where the provider is required to contact the participant
once a month for research data updates but may have no or little other
contact. If and when a participant needs further benefits counseling or
employment support, it can be provided by re-authorizing the person in an
"active status" which permits the provider to bill for services
provided.
New Regulatory and Policy Tools
A number of policy tools have been and are being designed to remove
regulatory barriers. These include mainly tools to help persons with
disabilities keep more of what they earn, save toward independence and
maintain their health care coverage. In addition to the points outlined
below, briefing materials are appended to this document that describe
these tools in more detail.
- Medicaid buy-in for persons who are working or intend to work (up to
250% of federal poverty level). Effective March 15, 2000
- SSI Waiver, which reduces the financial penalty fro each dollar
earned, establishes opportunities to save, and suspend certain
continuing disability reviews.
- SSDI Waiver which would (if granted) also improve employment
prospects by reducing financial penalties, suspending disability
reviews and maintain health care coverage
Research
A companion document called "Research Synopsis" has been
written to explain the scope and focus of the research effort. The
research component is the responsibility of the state. Five full-time
staff at Wisconsin DHS are employed in the effort, as well as two
part-time staff at DWD and contracted services of faculty and academic
staff with the Oregon Health Policy Institute. The reason that such an
intensive research effort has been launched is the realization that
effective policy change needs evidence, and anecdotal evidence is not
enough. The evidence necessary to guide policy must be objective and
performed at an analytical level high enough to be credible when evaluated
by fair-minded professionals.
Participant Input
An important feature of Pathways is the requirement that persons with
disabilities occupy a "seat at the table". The program operates
with the benefit of guidance from an Advisory Council composed
predominantly of persons with disabilities. This council meets at least
quarterly and input is sought more often as projects require. For example
this body had a lot of input into the features of the new regulatory
tools.
In addition, each local site is required to make use of existing
participant input or, if they do not already have a mechanism, they are to
develop one. This is usually referred to as a local advisory board and it
is required that providers maintain and make use of this input to ensure
persons with disabilities are well represented in programs that are
designed for their benefit.
Employer Connections
Another feature of Pathways is the requirement that local agencies and
providers build and maintain networks of employers in the community who
serve in an advisory capacity, for example guiding vocational efforts, and
also as potential employers of persons with a disability.
Summary
In summary, Wisconsin Pathways is a comprehensive package of
interventions and activities designed to remove endemic barriers to work
for persons with disabilities. The key features are the comprehensive set
of services, the single point of contact and the focus on development of
policy change through this initiative.
Last Revised: December 27, 2010
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