Work Incentives Grantees - University of Iowa



2003 Disability Program Navigator Training

Audio Conference Series

Key Websites of Interest

Social Security Administration (SSA)

December 4, 2003

Featured speakers:

Michael Morris

Associate Director

Law, Health Policy & Disability Center

University of Iowa College of Law

1725 Eye Street, NW, Ste. 600

Washington, D.C. 20026

202/521-2930

mmorris@

Sharon Brent

Law, Health Policy & Disability Center

University of Iowa College of Law

1725 Eye Street, NW, Ste. 600

Washington, D.C. 20026

202/336-7689

sbrent@

Laura Farah

Law, Health Policy & Disability Center

University of Iowa College of Law

290 Quarry Street #304

Quincy, MA 02169

617/471-1570

lfarah@mail.law.uiowa.edu

Susie Rudolph

Social Security Administration

Baltimore, MD

susie-rudolph@

Joie Hill

Social Security Administration

Office of Employment Support Programs

Baltimore, MD

joie-hill@

For information about other audio conferences in this series or to listen to the archive of this conference, go to the following Web address:



Michael Morris: Welcome everybody. The voice you hear is that of Michael Morris with the Law Health Policy and Disability Center at the University Of Iowa College Of Law. Some of my colleagues are joining me and we will be helping with this audio conference are Laura Farah and also Sharon Brent.

What this is the first of a series of audio conferences, to help introduce people to the kinds of information and how to reach information that can be invaluable to individuals who are now in the jobs as Program Navigators. And also, we have as well, a number of grantees from the ….[Inaudible]…administration, Work Incentive Grantees, there may be some other grantees as well. We are pleased today that the first of this series is focused on two websites of the Social Security Administration (SSA). And we appreciate the involvement and cooperation from SSA, who is going to provide us today with two presenters to help us navigate through these two different websites. Let me check to make sure they are with us. Susie Rudolph, are you there?

Susie Rudolph: I am here.

Michael Morris: Great. Now are you out of the Baltimore office?

Susie Rudolph: I am out of the Baltimore office.

Michael Morris: Great. Then, as well, and I may mispronounce it. I apologize in advance. Do you pronounce it Joie?

Joie Hill: Yes.

Michael Morris: Then I got it right?

Joie Hill: Yes.

Michael Morris: Okay. Joie Hill is with the Office of Employment Support Programs, also at SSA. And are you also in the Baltimore office?

Joie Hill: Yes.

Michael Morris: Okay, great. We have with us from the sign-ups from this first in a series of audio conferences to learn more about websites that can be helpful. We have, we had in advance over 60 people sign up. So we are not going to do a roll call, because a roll call itself could take about 15 minutes, and we want to really get to the meat of why we are all here today. So I am going to turn us all first to Susie Rudolph, and we are, am I right, we are going to be looking first at the website that relates to SSA benefits [Inaudible] disability?

Susie Rudolph: In fact, I actually would like to start with the SSA homepage.

Michael Morris: Okay, even better. Let me stop being the voice and turn it over to you Susie.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, sounds good. Good afternoon everyone. I guess it is afternoon everywhere. I understand that you are all there from various parts of the country.

Michael Morris: All over the country.

Susie Rudolph: All over the country. They want to start with the SSA website. Because I think there is information there that may be helpful for you as well. We will look at and just to kind of those of you who have not had an opportunity to view the website, I want to take you across the blue line that is up there, a couple of things there. Particularly, the one that talks about how to [Inaudible] if you are looking at contacting us and you go there, this will not only give you a list of ways of coming to us by email and sending us information, but it will also help you to locate a field office, or Social Security office in the area. So if you are working with a client and they do not know where the nearest Social Security office is, this is one way of finding it, so it is a locater.

Michael Morris: Susie, just to make sure that everyone is in the same place, and I will use myself as a guide, who is a fairly novice user of visiting websites. I have gone to , and on the top of the page it says Social Security Online. The official website of the Social Security Administration. Okay and you were just talking about the, how to contact us?

Susie Rudolph: That area there.

Michael Morris: Right in that blue line?

Susie Rudolph: Right in that blue line.

Michael Morris: Okay. Are people with us?

Various Participants: Yes!

Michael Morris: Okay, great.

Female Participant: Is this a conference call, or is it a web cast?

Michael Morris: It is, this is only audio, but what you need, you really need to be to make maximum use of this, is you want to be in front of a computer with live internet connection.

Female Participant: Okay

Michael Morris: So we are, we will, together be navigating through several websites.

Participant: I apologize. I thought we were already there, so I did not, do that background step.

Michael Morris: No problem, no problem. Yeah, okay, so we are at and let me turn it back to you.

Susie Rudolph: With the snow.

Michael Morris: Yes, with snow falling.

Female Participant: Is the snow falling?

Michael Morris: Yes, on the website.

Female Participant: Oh, oh yeah, okay They are calling for a storm here.

Michael Morris: Yes we are. If you are in the Northeast corridor you are expecting, well if you are further north Connecticut, and further north, you already have snow, if you are a little bit south of Connecticut, we are expecting it tonight.

Sharon Brent: It is literal and figurative.

Michael Morris: Okay.

Susie Rudolph: Let me tell you how I plan to approach this, so you can let me know whether or not this is the way you want me to go. I know this is the first one, so we will learn this together.

Based on the background that I received, I wanted to give you some information that I thought, based on the clients you will be working with, may be helpful to you. So what I am looking at are things that, in terms of the program…

[Interrupted by music]

Female Participant: Sorry.

Susie Rudolph: So in addition to the program and policy areas that I will show you, the law and regs and all of that, I also want to show you some features that may be helpful in terms of providing service to your clients, such as finding the Social Security office, that level of detail. And if we move on across to the search, if you have a particular area that you want some additional information on about the Social Security program, or a Social Security office, or something along those lines.. That search button, you can start there, and key in the various words and that may be a good place for you to start in terms finding particular information on the website, without doing a lot of thinking otherwise trying to finding it intuitively, since the way we think may be different from the way you think about a particular issue.

Sharon Brent: Clearly.

Susie Rudolph: So that, so that would be a place you can start as well. And if you go in and click on that, you can see the search and there are some clues for actually doing, putting the search words in there.

Going back, if you click back, we are going to go back to the homepage, Social Security Online page. The other button I want to bring to your attention is the one for other languages. I noticed that you are working with SSI recipients and I know there are various clients with different languages, Spanish as a second language and others. And here, on this site, this site will tell you about the interpretive service that is available when the clients are conducting their Social Security business. That would be one for those who may be dealing with English….

Michael Morris: Okay, Susie, you have lost me already, where do I find that?

Susie Rudolph: Okay, you go back, are you on the website?

Michael Morris: I am on the homepage.

Susie Rudolph: Social Security Online.

Michael Morris: Yep.

Susie Rudolph: And you go to other languages, still in the blue line.

Michael Morris: Oh, I finally found it. All the way to the right.

Susie Rudolph: You are all the way to the right.

Michael Morris: Thank you.

Susie Rudolph: And you click on “other languages,” and that tells you about our interpretive service, how that works. We have over one hundred and fifty languages that it can service this initiative here.

Sharon Brent: If you scroll down, you will see the number of languages.

Susie Rudolph: Some of our publications are translated already in this language, and in some of the languages, and others are, we can get an interpreter online for the person and work with them, or in the office with the person and work with them to conduct there Social Security business. Its not across the board, it is simply to conduct their Social Security business.

Okay, going back to the SSA home site. Again, as part of your effort and you want to stay current with Social Security news and those things that may be of interest to your clients, I am going to stay on the right side, going down that right side column. Under resources. Are we there? Okay, to the Electronic eNews.

Michael Morris: Okay.

Susie Rudolph: Okay. This will give you some various information about what is going on. There is, it is a periodical that comes out with various things that are happening within the organization, and about the programs, on meeting certain regs that have been published. And you notice that you can subscribe to this service and you would automatically get any eNews when they are generated and posted to the website, if you want to stay abreast, you know, that current with what is going on. That is another service that is available.

Female Participant: Is there a fee for that?

Susie Rudolph: I am sorry? No, there is no fee for that.

Michael Morris: Free for anyone.

Susie Rudolph: Yes, free for anyone.

I am going to skip over the Social Security statement, because that may not be a necessarily a part of your activities, but going down to the next on online claims and services. This tells you, this particular site, will help an individual apply online. And we want to assume, that since your clientele will be SSI recipients and they will not be using the internet. They are, this will tell you, this gives a lot of links to other sites that will help them to determine whether or not they are eligible, it will help them determine what they need to apply and how to apply, and what services are available online, including change of address and those kind of things that are available online along those. So this, this particular site will give you a lot of information about applying for disability benefits. Both the Title II, and the SSI, or Title XVI benefits for disability. Okay?

Michael Morris: Okay, before you leave that page Susie, I notice all the way on the left, it has a Field Office Locator. Field Office Locator.

Susie Rudolph: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Michael Morris: And I thought that was great. It is very simple. You, if I just put in my own zip code and quickly found, they showed me a map, how to get to my closest Social Security office where I live. And that would be very helpful to Navigators, if you are not familiar yet with your local Social Security office.

Susie Rudolph: Right, very true. Okay, and we also came to a similar site under “contact us”.

Michael Morris: Contact Us.

Susie Rudolph: Yes, Contact Us, how to contact us, that first site that we went to.

Forms and publications. Click on forms, if you are helping someone out with benefits, again, if you know what forms are needed, you can go there and search, and you can also order those forms and you can also download them from the website, once you

Male Participant: I do not see forms, where are forms?

Sharon Brent: It is, go back to Social Security Online.

Susie Rudolph: Under the Online Claims and Services.

Michael Morris: You have got to back to the homepage again.

Male Participant: Oh, homepage, okay.

Susie Rudolph: You are staying on the homepage and going, okay.

Male Participant: Okay I got it.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, we are there?

Male Participant: Uh-huh.

Susie Rudolph: Okay. So this particular column will give you a lot of information that may be helpful to you and give you a place to start, in terms of navigating through the process. And we are not going to through the whole page, we just want to give you an idea of what was there and to bring to your attention the resources that are available from the site before we go to the disability site.

Publications. Click on publications. Again, we will see there are a lot of publications that we have. And it also takes you to the, on the far right hand side, it tells you how to order these in bulk, if you want to order, if you find a publication that you would like to have as a handout for your clientele, you can order those in bulk from us and that address is there or you can call there as well. Now Michael, you need to give me a timeframe.

Michael Morris: Oh, yeah, I am so immersed in what you are doing. Definitely take, you are covering both this, then you are going to cover the next related website.

Susie Rudolph: Disability one.

Michael Morris: Right. So, so why do not you stay with it for about a half hour.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, all right. Now if, when you go on down, on that column, you will see our program rules. Based on the background that I read on the group, you also need to know about the Social Security laws and regulations, particularly dealing with Title XVI. If you click on “program rules,” it will take you to the page that says Social Security Program Rules, the homepage.

Female Participant: Where is that?

Susie Rudolph: You see that?

Female Participant: Where is that?

Male Participant: Under resource.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, on, are you on the page Social Security Online?

Female Participant: Yes.

Susie Rudolph: And you go under Forms and Publications, and you keep down until you see Our Program Rules.

Sharon Brent: Just above International.

Susie Rudolph: Just above International.

Michael Morris: Find it?

Participant: Yeah.

Michael Morris: Okay.

Susie Rudolph: All right, click on there and this is just a quick reference to our, to the law office a Compilation of Social Security Laws, you can order a copy from there. Our regulations, Social Security Regs, CRF, CFR, you can order from there. You probably get a lot of these resources, as part of your office anyway, but again, they are online. This is where you would go for the law, regs, or rulings that pertain to the Title XVI Program.

Female Participant: I am sorry, could you repeat that last part, Susie? This is where you would go for…

Susie Rudolph: The Social Security Laws? The regulations; the Code of Federal Regulations; Social Security laws; as well as the rulings that apply to Social Security programs. There is also the SSI Law and Regulation Finder. If you click on there, if that is where you want to be specifically, that is specific to where some of those issues are. If you scroll down you will see them on the general law regs. Here are the Social Security Law Reference, eligibility, amount of benefits, income resources. So it is a nice breakdown of some of the areas that you might be looking information on. A quick reference for you. Okay?

Michael Morris: Great.

Female Participant: I have a question.

Susie Rudolph: Yes madam.

Female Participant I cannot find the program where you may indicate online and that is not bringing up most of the issues that you have.

Susie Rudolph: I am not sure I understood the question.

Female Participant Okay, when is the SSA site? Because I have on the internet that it has been revised in July 2003. Is that correct?

Sharon Brent: Are you on the Social Security Online homepage?

Susie Rudolph: You on the Social Security Online homepage? This has, the one that I am looking at says, last update November 28, 2003.

Female Participant: That is what it says at the top.

Susie Rudolph: What subject is at the top of the page that you are viewing?

Female Participant: No, I was just suggesting maybe ask her what is at the top, so we could figure out, yeah, where she is.

Susie Rudolph: Yeah, what subject is at the top page where you, that you are viewing?

Male Participant: There is stars, there are white stars with a red banner saying Disability Programs.

Female Participant: Yeah, no.

Sharon Brent: Oh yeah, sounds like you are on a different page.

Susie Rudolph: Yeah, you are on the disability programs page. Do you see Social Security Online at the top of that page, ? If you click on that, it will take you to the Social Security homepage where we are.

Female Participant: It is in blue?

Susie Rudolph: Its in blue, a blue strip.

Female Participant: On the left?

Susie Rudolph: On the left, on the far left.

Male Participant: Okay, all right, we have got it now, thank you.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, all right. So we just left the program rules, is where came from back to the SSA homepage.

Male Participant: Okay, we are back to the homepage then?

Susie Rudolph: We are back on the homepage now.

The last thing I am going to show you on this site is the “regional and other Social Security websites”. Click on there and you will see an organizational [Inaudible] and the reason I am going there is, because it gives you a little more about the SSA as an organization. And if you click on the Organization and Social Security, you will see the Commissioner’s Office, and the various deputy levels that we have. I want you to scroll on down until you get to the part “Deputy Commissioner Disability and Income Security Programs”.

Male Participant: Who is it by?

Susie Rudolph: That is the area, Martin Gerry, who has responsibility for both the SSI and Disability Programs, as well as the Ticket to Work and Return to Work programs. And we are under, the office that you are talking with now, the Office of Disability Programs, Sue Roecker as the Associate Commissioner. Joie, if I may, is from the Office of Employment Support Programs.

Joie Hill: Correct.

Susie Rudolph: And Ramona Frantz, is now the acting AC there. Ken McGill has retired. That gives you an overview of the organization and where we are, people that you are talking to today.

Female Participant So you are under the Deputy Commissioner of Disability and Income, both of you, is that what you said? Sorry.

Susie Rudolph and Joie Hill: That is correct.

Female Participant: Okay, great.

Susie Rudolph: That is correct. Okay, we are going back to the homepage?

Michael Morris: Susie, can I, can I? This is Michael again, just a question, when we come back now to the homepage, the Social Security Online, and just a very easy thing, and you may be going there, but right in the middle of the page at the top it says questions about and there is a drop down menu?

Susie Rudolph: Yes, I am going there.

Michael Morris: Okay, great.

Susie Rudolph: So, this was a good segway to go there, we will go there now. If you click on this area “choose a subject,” under “Questions about:,” again, if you are searching for information you have this search area in the blue across the top. If you want to be a little more specific, you have another few breakdowns here. And we are actually going to go to the Disability one. If you click on Disability there, and click on Go. These are some Frequently Asked Questions, and we have a staff, who responds to questions that come in through the internet. And they have characterized a lot of these questions and they now show here under Disability, for us and these are the questions that are there, there are twenty questions or so that are there. This may be a starting point, because with the question, if you click on a question, you will find the answer to that question there. Do we all follow that?

Multiple Participants: No, say it again.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, you click on a question, any question from 1 to 20, and if you click on the question, you will see the question and you will also see an answer. And you can, of course you see we are always trying to improve our services, so we ask you to give us a quick rating in terms of how well the answer responded to your specific question.

Female Participant: Does it say 43 answers found? Does that sound right?

Sharon Brent: Yes, that is where I am.

Female Participant: Okay.

Michael Morris: Yes. And you will notice when you click on one of these questions and you see the answer, they also then give you some further related questions, so that, you know, there is far more than twenty questions really here. That could be very helpful to Navigators.

Susie Rudolph: Now if you click on, wherever you are, if you click on the All Subcategories, you will also see one that says Ticket to Work and Return to Work, so you have both the Disability and the Return to Work categories there together for you. Now again, with the search category the “Search Text” option, you also have the option to, if the category you are looking for, the question you have is not there, you have the option to go in and give more information and try to be more specific with your question.

Sharon Brent: So you are talking about now going back to the homepage?

Female Participant: Yeah, that is what I was wondering.

Susie Rudolph: The Answers To Your Questions, we are still on the Answers To Your Questions page, there is [Inaudible] Search Text there also, so if you are in there and you have not found the answer to your question yet ,and you want to be a little more specific you can type in the Search Text option, and be more specific, and then do another search and it may give you something that is more correct for that specific question that you have.

Okay, we are going back to Social Security Online. You can hit the back button, or you can hit Social Security Online and it takes you back to the homepage. Are we there?

Participants: Yep. Yes. Yeah

Susie Rudolph: We are going to go do, we are going to skip Retirement and Medicare, even though Medicare will be a part of your process, information that you, with your clients, for Medicare and Medicaid, for those who are on Disability for 24 months, we are not going to go there at this time. We are going to the area of Disability and SSI.

Michael Morris: So right in the middle of the page.

Susie Rudolph: In the middle of the page.

Male Participant: Disability and SSI?

Susie Rudolph: Disability and SSI.

Female Participant: Which one do you want to click on?

Susie Rudolph: Click on “Do you qualify?”.

Michael Morris: “Do you qualify?,” Okay.

Susie Rudolph: Those who are considering applying for benefits, a lot of the links on this page are some of the same links on some of the other pages, so you can get to Applying for Benefits in several different ways. You can get information about the “evidence needed” in several different ways and this is one of the sites. We will give you some information about that. You can also scroll down; you will also see information about the Social Security/Disability program. So if you click on that particular site, it gives you some very preliminary, basic information about the disability program, and how to apply and the kind of information that we will be requesting for, to determine whether or not you are disabled. There is of course also the screening tool. The best eligibility screening tool that you can go to, to determine whether or not the individual will be eligible for the benefits.

Going back to the homepage, we are not going to click on the “Apply for disability benefits online”. We have been there already. As I have said, there are several ways to get there. I want to go on down to “More disability information”. This is the Social Security Disability Program page. This is the Office of Disability Programs homepage, on our website here. It talks about the Social Security Disability Insurance programs, from both SSI and Title II and Title XVI.

The information on the left side of that screen is a lot of the same information that we went through on the page. The “Applying for benefits,” the Forms, the Publications, the Non-English Languages, and so forth. So you can see there is some consistency, you do not have to be on one particular page to get to the information that you may be looking for.

On down that left hand side under Program Information, Social Security Handbook, online you can download it and print it, basic information about the Social Security program. Law and Legislation. That takes you back to the Social Security Program Rules, that it was called on the homepage. There is a lot of the same information you can link to from this page, as well as the homepage.

Now under “Frequently Asked Questions” that takes you back to that Disability question category that we had before. Click on there, so you view as well. Now we want to the right side of that page. And under the “What’s New?”, this is the category when a new ruling as this particular one talks about [Inaudible] .ruling, new rulings are published, or new regs are published, we kind of announce it here. When the Form 827 that is used to give authorization for medical evidence and disclosure, when that was revised, it is here at “What’s New”. So this is where we announce new things that are happening within the disability programs. Particularly those that we have responsibility for here in the Office of Disability Programs.

More information on the Disability Determination Process, you want to click there and this will probably go into, gives you just a general background on the disability decision making process and how and what its done to make that decision and what information is needed to make that decision. It is a very general review on, on the disability process. Click on Disability Home and it takes you back to our homepage.

The Disability Report Form Guide, under there. This is our 3368, and I am not sure if you are familiar with the various forms, but this is the disability report form used by adults, where we collect a lot the information, contact information, their doctor information, information about their doctors, their medication, their education, their vocation, vocational history, as well as their illness and how the illness impacts their ability to work. It is a guide….

Male Participant: Where is that again?

Susie Rudolph: Okay, are you on Disability Home? On their “More Information”? On the right-hand side? Go down two to Disability Report Form Guide. Are we there?

Male Participant: No. I am on the disability homepage though.

Susie Rudolph: The Disability Programs homepage, Benefits For People With Disabilities.

Male Participant: Okay, I have got it. Okay, thank you.

Susie Rudolph: This particular site provides, if you click on that form, the 3368 there, on that icon, it specifically walks you through the completion of the form. Okay, are we there? And once you click on that icon you will come up with a green form on the left hand side and you will come up with, on the right hand side, some additional information. You can do one of two things with this. You can go, you can click on any questions, say question D, and you click on that information about the disabled person, click on it and it basically gives you what information is being requested in that section.

My computer is freezing up on me, I do not believe this. I do not believe this! It just froze!

But if you click on there, if yours is still working, it should give you an explanation of the information that we are asking for.

Participant: And this is just for adults, right?

Susie Rudolph: This is just for adults. We have a 3820 for children; we do not have a guide up yet. That is the part of it this point, that we need one for that, for the children, but we do not have that up yet.

Hmm. I need to reboot. If you go back to our homepage.

Sharon Brent: The Disability homepage?

Susie Rudolph: Yes.

Sharon Brent: Okay.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, our next category, Benefits for Children with Disability, and if you, I know that you were working with some kids transitioning to work. This is for children under age 18, for the most part, who are getting benefits as a disabled child, as a disabled child from a parent, on a parent account, which would be under Title II, so we will not spend time there, but ….

Sharon Brent: It would be just, it would be a child that has a disability, how would you apply for that? That is the form?

Susie Rudolph: Right. This is the area that where you would go to, it is not the form, it gives you information about benefits for children with disabilities.

Participant: Right.

Susie Rudolph: For SSI, you cannot apply online for SSI at this point, but there is a I-3368. There is a 3368 on the internet, where you can go online and complete that online. We can go online and complete it online, without having to fill out the paper form and sending it in. You can complete it online and submit it to Social Security that way. Okay?

Female Participant: Hello? Can you hear me? This is Rene in the State of Washington. Question on the SSI benefits for children so, when looking at this, it does pertain to eligibility limits, which is income-based, correct?

Susie Rudolph: That is correct. Income can still affect children even though they may be disabled or stuff, families’ income is a factor.

Female Participant: Okay thank you.

Sharon Brent: Under the age of 18.

Female Participant: Right, I see that.

Susie Rudolph: Okay, we are going back to the Disability Programs homepage. Go down to the section on Chart of Disability Process and click on there. You have heard of the delays and so forth in the disability process. This particular page gives you an idea of the overall process and the time involved in making that decision. It is a primer on what happens to claim at point of intake at a Social Security field office to the point of decision. It is a major initiative by the Commissioner to reduce that time considerably.

Male Participant: Okay, where is that located again?

Susie Rudolph: Are you on…where are you?

Male Participant: Where the snow is.

Susie Rudolph: Where the snow is. Okay, go down to “More Disability Information” in the middle.

Male Participant: Okay.

Susie Rudolph: And on the right-hand side, under More Information, go down to about the third or fourth one from the bottom, Chart of Disability Process.

Male Participant: Okay, I got you. Thank you.

Susie Rudolph: So that gives you some idea about the disability process and how that works and how long it takes. Then, at the very bottom of that, you click here to review the chart and you get the entire chart. From the point of intake through appeal decisions, all the way up to

Male Participant: ALJ level? The [Inaudible]

Sharon Brent: Administrative Law Judge, right.

Susie Rudolph: The Commissioner calls this the 25 foot chart, I think she calls it.

Sharon Brent: Wow, this is a great chart!

Michael Morris: Wow.

Female Participant: I am trying to get it up, it is taking forever.

Sharon Brent: Is this pretty new?

Susie Rudolph: This has been online at least a year, I think.

Sharon Brent: Wow, I learned something new today!

Michael Morris: Quite a chart, how, how, can it be printed out? How do you do that?

Sharon Brent: You probably want to click here to open up the whole chart.

Susie Rudolph: Yeah are you on, what page are you on?

Sharon Brent: I now have the whole chart open. Let’s see if I can print.

Susie Rudolph: That is one thing that I did not practice. I did not try to print this one.

Sharon Brent: Well I am trying to print it now.

Female Participant: You could probably email it to yourself, then print it.

Susie Rudolph: Mine is printing, if you just go to file, print.

Sharon Brent: Yep, mine’s printing. I can print it.

Michael Morris: Very impressive chart. Wow.

Susie Rudolph: Of course you are going to have several pages and you will just have to…..

Michael Morris: Piece it together.

Susie Rudolph: Okay. I thought you would like to see that. I think I have covered basically the areas that I thought might be of help to you.

Michael Morris: Right.

Susie Rudolph: Are there any specific questions or any areas you may….

Michael Morris: Right. If there are questions, if you can identify, just make it not so invisible for the rest of us. At least identify yourself by name and then ask your question. Anyone with a question? I think most of us are still zooming around inside the website.

[Laughter]

Sharon Brent: I just....This is Sharon, and I work here with Michael Morris. I just want to compliment SSA. I have been using this website a long time and it is getting better and better. And it is getting easier and easier to use.

Susie Rudolph: I will pass that on to people who worked really hard on this.

Sharon Brent: I mean it is a huge site and it just gets easier and easier.

Susie Rudolph: Good.

Sharon Brent: So, my compliments to the designer.

Susie Rudolph: I will definitely pass that on.

Okay, if there are no questions then, I would like to thank you for your time and...

Michael Morris: Thank you so much. We will turn it over to Joie?

Joie Hill: Good afternoon everyone. I would like to first say thank you to Susie. I not sure if she is still on here or not?

Susie Rudolph: I am still on for a moment.

Joie Hill: Okay, I would just like to thank you for providing that general overview of the site and that way I do not have to go through all of that. I think that you did a fabulous job with your introduction and that is going to be a great segway to what I am going to get into.

Susie Rudolph: Thank you Joie.

Joie Hill: Okay. For everyone that is still listening. My name is Joie Hill, and I am the Website Manager for the Office of Employment Support Programs. The Office of Employment Support Programs is in the same office that Susie spoke of earlier, the Office of Disability Income Security Programs. The Office of Employment Support Programs website is called The Work Site. The Work Site is located, if you are still on the benefits for people with disabilities page, on the left-hand side, there is text, “getting benefits mail” and the second link says Ticket to Work/Work Incentive. If you will select that, click on that, that is the site that I am going to be discussing.

Participant: The Work Site.

Joie Hill: Yeah, and if you go to the top of the page, it says The Work Site Home on the left-hand side. I would like for you to start there.

Sharon Brent: It is also in the middle of that same page?

Joie Hill: Yeah. That is the breadcrumb navigation.

Sharon Brent: Okay, that is good, I love that, that is good.

Joie Hill: Before I get started, I just want to let everybody know that the Office of Employment Support Programs is responsible for Work Incentive/Employment Support. Those are the two names that I use interchangeably for programs, policies and initiatives that, of course, help people with disabilities get back to work that are receiving Social Security benefits. So that is what OESP does.

OESP has several customers, but our main customers are exactly as we have them set up on our website, where we have information for. And those customers include, like the link says, Youth with Disabilities, Employers, Beneficiaries, Service Providers, and Advocates. What I am going to do is go through our website and point out some key things that will help you assist clients, as they search for jobs on their quest to transition form Social Security benefits to work.

The Youth With Disability” section, includes information for youth, their parents, teachers, counselors, and any of the people that are involved with youth on a day to day basis.

The Employers section includes exactly what it says, information for employers. Some of the information the employers will find, will be information on the Americans with Disabilities Act Tax Incentives. One of our programs that we are pushing right now which is called Ticket to Hire and I will get more into that when I get into the Employer section.

The next section is the Beneficiary section. Of course this section includes information specifically for the SSI and SSDI beneficiaries. Some of the information includes stuff on rehabilitation programs, employment resources, Medicare, Medicaid and our other major programs that we are implementing nationally, right now, is the Ticket to Work program. All of that information can be found there.

The next section is the Service Providers.

Participant: I have a question. What is the BPAO Program?

Joie Hill: The BPAO Program, the acronym stands for Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach. The Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach Program is a part of the Ticket Program. The Benefits Planning Assistance Outreach program consists of agencies in each state, that are funded by Social Security to work one-on-one with the beneficiaries to help them transition and understand their benefits, from going from disability rolls to working.

Sharon Brent: They would give you details, also, of all the Work Incentives, how you might apply for them, what it means to you. That would be that individual person that would help a beneficiary.

Joie Hill: Exactly. And I will get more into the contact information for beneficiaries on the BPAO once I get to that section. Okay?

I was talking about service providers. And in the service provider section we have information on State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, as well as private organizations that are contracted with SSA, under the Ticket to Work Programs, to work one-on-one with our beneficiaries. Those private organizations are called Employment Networks and I will get more into that as we go through the site.

And the next section is the Advocate section. And just as it says, the Advocate section, the advocate section includes information for people who do not fit the other categories, who help people with disabilities and advocate on their behalf to go back to work.

On the other left hand side of the page, you will see “General Information on,” and those links are links that provide information for all of the audiences that I have discussed above. The About Us section talks about the Office of Employment Support Programs and describes us. The next link is Events and on the Events page, we list offices, conventions, training, or other events that are open to the public, that people can attend to find out what is going on in different activities and helping people go back to work.

The next link is the Work Sites Questions & Help. And on that page, Susie pointed out earlier, if you can select the Work Sites Questions & Help that would be great. Let me now when you get there. On the Work Sites Questions & Help Susie pointed out earlier, Social Security…

[End Side 1]

[Side 2]

Joie Hill: …frequently asked questions, well the Work Site also has its own Frequently Asked Questions, which is the link that says Return to Work Frequently Asked Questions. So you can always go there to access the Frequently Asked Questions, just like Susie demonstrated earlier.

Sharon Brent: And initially when you go to that page, there is 20 questions and when you open each one of those questions, you get to question, the answer, and then there are multiple related questions under that.

Joie Hill: Exactly.

Sharon Brent: So it is exactly the same thing.

Joie Hill: Yeah. Thank you.

Sharon Brent: You are welcome.

Joie Hill: Okay. If you could select your “Back” link and go back to Social Security Work Site homepage, you will see the Work Site Search. If you select the Work Site Search link, we just have two links there. The first link is to Search the entire SSA Web site. And then we have our own site index and On that page, if you select that, you will get everything that is on the entire worksite. A description, or either a link, so that is another way to find information on our page. If you could select the link and go back to the Work Site homepage, the next two sections are Resources Toolkit and Ticket to Work.

Next, what I am going to do is go through some of the key sections on our website that would be of interest to you and can help you assist your client. Does anybody have any questions before I move on?

Okay, I guess nobody has any questions.

One thing that I want to point out is, in all of our sections, our audience sections, at the top of each page you will notice a quick link. If you select one, Youth With Disabilities, I will provide you with an example of that. In the middle of the page, it says “Youth Quicklinks”, and if you select the arrow down button, there is a list of different items to select. This feature is available in all of the audience sections. So if a person wants to find something really quickly, they can go into there and just find something without going through the entire page. It will take them straight to where they want to go through.

Sharon Brent: So if you scroll down, all those links are there. So it just saves you from scrolling down all that way?

Joie Hill: Yes. Sometimes a person may want to go through something repeatedly. If you know exactly that it is in there you can right to the exact section and just select it and go exactly to the information that you are interested in getting. Okay?

So the first thing I want to talk about in the Youth section, in case you have any youth clients that you are going to be working with. Two key things that we have on here are internships for youth. And if you scroll down, the first thing I want you to look at in terms of a link is called Mobility International USA. That is a program that places youth with disabilities, who are college age, into international exchange programs where they can get experience. This just details the application process and things like that. So this is something you might want to share with youth that you are working with.

We also have another link for internships if you scroll down under the heading, “Policies, Programs and Projects”. It says “internships for college students with disabilities”. That is another link that has information on internships that can be shared with youth. That is just one key feature. Those are two key features I wanted to describe in the Youth section.

The next section I would like to talk about is Employer. So if you could select the Employers link on the left hand side of the page. Is everyone there? Earlier I mentioned the Ticket to Hire program, and I wanted to bring this out to the Navigator’s attention, because I believe that you are going to be working with employers perhaps, you may come into contact with employers. The Ticket to Hire Program.

[Inaudible]

Joie Hill: Hello?

Male Participant: Yes.

Joie Hill: I was speaking on the Ticket to Hire Program. Does anyone have any questions?

Female Participant: Yes.

Joie Hill: Okay.

Female Participant: Are you guys fully implementing the program as of yet?

Joie Hill: The Ticket to Work Program, or the Ticket to Hire?

Female Participant: Yes. The Ticket to Hire Program is what I called to get information on and I was told they were not publicizing it as of yet.

Joie Hill: The Ticket to Hire Program is a program that is up and running. In the first Two Phase States of the Ticket to Work Program and the Third Phase of the Ticket to Work Program just started this month.

[Inaudible]

Joie Hill: So the Ticket to Hire program is up and running and the First Phase State of the Ticket to Work Program.

Participant: Okay, my question is about Ticket to Hire though.

Susie Rudolph: Yes, that is what I am saying. The Ticket to Hire Program is a program where employers are connected with individuals who have gone through the Ticket to Work program through the state…

Female Participant: Joey, I am sorry to stop you a minute, but there is somebody that is on the line talking. Can we ask him to stop talking?

Sharon Brent: Hello? Hello? There is somebody speaking on the phone.

Joie Hill: Michael, are you here?

Sharon Brent: No, Michael is not here at the moment, but Sharon is here. I am here.

Joie Hill: There is some background chatter and I think its an unrelated conversation that everyone can hear and they cannot hear me.

Sharon Brent: Now, I do not hear it now, so whoever was speaking is no longer on there. Can anybody hear it?

Multiple Participants: Yes, I can hear it. They are still on there. Now it sounds like other people.

Sharon Brent: I cannot tell if they are part of this call or not.

Female Participant: Joey Hill?

Joie Hill: Yes, I am here.

Female Participant: Joie Hill, Hi, this is Rene Karokoff and I am the Navigator in the State of Washington. I would just like to say at the moment for everybody on this conference call, everything you say and do, we all hear. You are all audible to us.

Sharon Brent: Everybody is hearing you. We are just hearing a background conversation as well.

Joie Hill: I think that is another call that unrelated to this conversation.

Sharon Brent: Correct, but it could be in an office where somebody is on this call that we are hearing.

Joie Hill: Okay, well, I will continue. I was responding to the question about the Ticket to Work Program and the Ticket to Hire Program. The Ticket to Hire Program is for employers, and employers sign up for a free service to share their vacancy announcements and job announcements with service providers such as the State Voc Rehab aAgencies, or an Employment Network. They share them with those two agencies because those are the two types of agencies that SSA is working with for the Ticket to Work Program. So employers are being connected directly with Social Security beneficiaries, who have entered into the Ticket to Work Program and who have gotten Vocational Rehabilitation Training and have been “certified and ready to go to work,” by those two agencies. But the question was, what is Ticket to Hire and is it operating across the country? Since the Ticket to Work Program just went national in remaining 20 states or so, in November, the Ticket to Hire Program would not be working there completely as of yet, because we have just started sending out Tickets to beneficiaries in the Third Phase States. Does that answer the question?

Female Participant: Yes.

Male Participant: I have a question. I understand that Maximus is contracting out through the Ticket to Work Program?

Joie Hill: Yeah?

Male Participant: I understand that Maximus is contracting out throught the Ticket toWork Program, okay.

Joie Hill: Yeah.

Male Participant: How can we get past Maximus? Because I had a guy come in the other day and he had a, he showed me his Ticket and everything, and I sent him to the Social Security office, and the Social Security office hooked him up, had him to call Maximus.

Joie Hill: Okay.

Male Participant: And then I called Maximus, and so, it is kind of like, he really did not get no where. We sent him, you know, we give him, you know and kind of He was like running around in circles. And what I wanted to know is, how do we, in our area, get hold of the people that is included in that program that you just got through saying the Ticket to Hire Program?

Joie Hill: Okay, because the Ticket to Hire Program is specifically for employers, they only interact with Maximus Employment Networks, or state Voc Rehab agencies. Nobody else can go to them and work with them directly. That is just not how it is set up.

Male Participant: Well how come, it should be for the One-Stops and the Navigators, I mean, we should know who to send these people to, besides if Social, if we send them to Social Security, and Social Security just gives them a number to call, they get, it is frustrating.

Joie Hill: Okay.

Female Participant: If I could intervene, if I and I would like for you to dispel this myth if I am incorrect, I thought once the person was to get a Ticket, they were to contact a network provider which is ORS (Office of Rehabilitative Services?), or someone who is approved by Maximus. Is that right?

Joie Hill: Exactly.

Participant: And once they contact a network provider and they are trained, then they go forth on from there to Ticket to Hire, right?

Joie Hill: Exactly. The Employment Networks and the State Voc Rehab agencies and are able to handle Ticket to Hire directly.

Sharon Brent: And Voc-Rehabs are also considered Employment Networks, so they can be doing it through that program or through the traditional program. It is both ways.

Joie Hill: Exactly.

Female Participant: Now, would we as Navigators, would we be impeding on someone else’s turf if we were also advertising for more Employment Networks?

Sharon Brent: What do you mean by advertising, do you mean asking whether there were more in the state? Or whether or not…

Female Participant: No, not asking if there were more, but if there are entities within my community that want to become Employment Networks?

Sharon Brent: Absolutely. You would want to encourage them to do that.

Joie Hill: Yes, if they are organizations that are interested in becoming an Employment Network Service Provider, they should contact Maximus. Maximus is responsible for recruiting Employment Networks, and they will provide them with the necessary tools and information on the application process and provide them with full information about becoming an Employment Network. So you should send them directly to Maximus.

Sharon Brent: I would also tell you that, Joey is probably going to get to it, but there is a site that you can get to where someone who is interested in becoming an Employment Network could print out or download the actual application.

Female Participant: Exactly. I have been to the site, but I just did not want to be “recruiting” and there is someone out there that is doing it also.

Joie Hill: Oh, we encourage you to inform organizations about the program. The more Employment Networks that are available that provides beneficiaries with more choices.

Male Participant: Okay, I am a Navigator. I want to, they sent me a Ticket to Work. I want to use it. I lost it but, they, I had to call Maximus, they already, you give them your Social Security name, they already got you there. You understand what I am saying?

Joie Hill: If a person receives a Ticket to Work, in the mail, and they are ready to “assign their Ticket,” so that they can get services, they contact Maximus to get a list of Employment Networks in their area. And they can also contact their state Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, because they can receive services from them as well.

Male Participant: You misunderstood everything I said.

Joie Hill: I am sorry; I may be misunderstanding your question. Can you…

Sharon Brent: Repeat your question?

Laura Farah: Now I just, this is Laura Farah, and I just wanted to tell you that next Thursday at this time, Ticket to Work will be leading us through their website, so these might be questions that you want to hold for them as well. As we will have a representative from Maximus, next Thursday on the call.

Male Participant: Next Thursday?

Laura Farah: Yeah, next Thursday at 3:00.

Sharon Brent: Same time, different day.

Laura Farah: 3:00. Same time, same number and they will be walking us through the Ticket to Work/Maximus site.

Joie Hill: Sir, would you like to reserve your question for them, or … ?

Male Participant: Well, I have already talked to Maximus and they said, well, it will a couple, take them a few weeks for them to send me, so and so and so and so the paperwork that I need to send back in, and another few more weeks to do so and so and so and so. That is not what I am looking for with my clients.

Sharon Brent: Are you asking for a list of Employment Networks? Are you asking…?

Male Participant: No, I am already employed. I am a Navigator.

Sharon Brent: No, I understand that.

Male Participant: I told them I want to, I said I want to go, use the Ticket to Work Program.

Sharon Brent: For who?

Male Participant: What do you mean for who?

Sharon Brent: For whom do you want to use the Ticket to Work Program?

Male Participant: For myself.

Sharon Brent: So you have a Ticket?

Participant: Yes, I have a Ticket.

Sharon Brent: Okay, and did you receive a list of Employment Networks to..?

Male Participant: No I have not.

Sharon Brent: Well, that, that is what you would want from the Maximus program.

Male Participant: Yeah, why does it take so long? That is what I want to know.

Joie Hill: No. Well, the list of Employment Networks is on the Maximus website. And I can….

Male Participant: Their list is on the network, I mean on the website?

Sharon Brent: Yes it is, and what you would identify as the state that you are in, and you would go to that state, and then you would identify the Employment Networks that are there. And there are few also, so you know, Employment Networks that cover all the states that are national networks that you could use also.

Joie Hill: And what I can do is when we get to that section on our website, I can point it out to you so you will know exactly where to go at. Okay?

Male Participant: Sounds like I am on my way there right now. I still am listening, keep going.

Joie Hill: Okay, we just finished our conversation about Ticket to Hire and that was one thing that I wanted to share with you on the Employers section of the website.

Female Participant: Joey, I am sorry to interrupt, but could I ask one quick timeline question. Do we know how much longer we are going to go today?

Joie Hill: I should go about another fifteen minutes, because I am almost through.

Female Participant: I do not mean to hurry you.

Joie Hill: That is Okay.

Female Participant: Just trying to do a timeline here.

Joie Hill: If you could select the Beneficiary section of our website. I just want to point out three things here on our Beneficiaries website. Under the Beneficiaries’ quick link, a very valuable quick link, if you select down, scroll down on the right hand side is “What are Work Incentives?” That is a very quick way to get a quick list of all of our Work Incentives. They are also available in our Red Book on employment support, but this section is a quick and dirty, where the Red Book is very detailed and extensive. So this is a quick way to find what our Work Incentives are.

The next thing that I would like to point out if you could scroll down on the right hand side of the page. Under the section where it says “Resources for Beneficiaries,” you will see the Area Work Incentive Coordinator and that is a position similar to yours, as SSA employees, this is just a fact sheet on our AWIGs and it has, of course, our toll free number. So if you are not familiar with the Area Work Incentive Coordinator, this is a description of SSA employees that are in the field offices across the country that will be helping people with disabilities, and this is up and running. If you could go back to the Beneficiary section and scroll down, directly underneath of that, somebody earlier asked about Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach. And if you will select that link….

Male Participant: Where was that again?

Joie Hill: Okay.

Male Participant: Where was that again?

Joie Hill: Directly under Area Work Incentive Coordinator link, there is a link for Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach.

Sharon Brent: Are you back on the Beneficiaries site?

Joie Hill: Yes.

Sharon Brent: Right, okay, so you are back on the Beneficiaries site and it is right there underneath, “Resources for Beneficiaries”.

Joie Hill: Yeah, I am sorry.

Male Participant: Okay, okay.

Joie Hill: If you select the Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach link, this describes the Benefits Assistance and Outreach Program that I spoke about earlier. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see BPAO agencies by states. That is a contact list that has all the phone numbers and addresses for the BPAOs across the country.

Sharon Brent: And every state in the Union has BPAOs. Every zip code in the country is covered.

Joie Hill: Exactly. So they are all there, even some in US territories as well.

Sharon Brent: Right, I always forget to say that, sorry.

Joie Hill: Okay. And you will see “Select a State” and you can go directly to your state. So this is a good resource if you want to refer your client to a Benefits Planning Specialist.

Sharon Brent: And that is probably an excellent resource for the Navigators to use. Especially when it comes to detailing benefits and work incentives, in order to help you expand the benefit to the beneficiary to get detailed information, when the Navigator may not have those really detailed pieces that you do not want to, because you have not learned that, it is not necessary for you to learn it, these folks are the ones that were required to learn it and went through the training. So it is a great resource for Navigators to use in the community.

Joie Hill: Yes, and they work with beneficiaries one-on-one. So you may want to bookmark this page to have as a resource.

The next section that I am going to be going to is the Service Providers section. So if you could scroll up to the top of your page, you will see, go back to Service Providers. And just to let you know, throughout the entire Work Site, the links on the left hand side remain the same on every page, so they never disappear, so you can always get back to where you started. As someone pointed out earlier, we have a breadcrumb navigation at the top of every page, just in case you get lost.

Female Participant: Just to jump in real quick, I had contacted my State BPAO and because the listing on the website was so broad, and I wanted to get something a little more localized, there were actually three BPAOs under one region. And they sent me a state map that listed all of them, with all of the numbers and addresses too.

Sharon Brent: Yeah. And every state does it a little bit different, if they all work in conjunction with each other, so what is on this site, is the big picture. And then you would always want to go with the state number, if that is what is given on the big picture, and that will give you the more detailed locally in the state, because you could have one state agency that is the BPAO and have multiple satellites all over the state.

Joie Hill: Exactly.

Female Participant: Thank you.

Sharon Brent: You are welcome.

Joie Hill: So if you could select Service Providers. Two things I would like to point out on the Service Providers page. If you look under the heading, “Information on State Voc Rehab and Other Service Providers.” One, two, three, the fourth link down says, Employment Network Directory. Earlier there was a gentleman on the line that was interested in the list of Employment Networks. This link will direct you to the Maximus website. Maximus maintains the list of Employment Networks, so we have to provide a link to their site for that, because they maintain that information and keep it updated on a regular basis.

Male Participant: I see. Okay.

Sharon Brent: But now know, that if you click onto that, it is a different site.

Male Participant: Well I am completely on a different site, I am on the Maximus site and I am just still trying to find where they, .provide us with the people they say that, what we were talking about earlier.

Joie Hill: Exactly. If you come back to the SSA site….

Male Participant: Go back to the SSA site?

Joie Hill: Yes.

Male Participant: Hold on here.

Joie Hill: That we were on earlier.

Male Participant: Hold on [Inaudible] Man if I knew like, I do not know, what into another room. Sorry. I have a slow machine.

Joie Hill: You in another room?

Male Participant: No, I mean I used another office.

Joie Hill: Oh, you had to go to another office.

Male Participant: No, if I had known I had gotten on today…[Inaudible] I got a slow machine also.

Joie Hill: Well if you get back to the SSA Work Site, on the left hand side it has “Information For,” and the fourth link is Service Providers.

Male Participant: Okay.

Joie Hill: If you select Service Providers, click on that, and you come down to the fourth link on the page, it says Employment Network Directory. Are you there?

Male Participant: Hold on, no, it is still loading up, this machine is real, real slow.

Male Participant: Hey, I can help him later with that.

Participant: Who is this Frank?

Male Participant: Yes, this is Frank. I can help you later with that.

Joie Hill: Okay, just let him know that once he selects that, he will be on the Maximus site, he will no longer be on the SSA site.

Sharon Brent: It will actually say Ticket Work and then it says Employment Network Directory.

Male Participant: Okay.

Sharon Brent: Then you will scroll down and it will actually start to say then, “Find Providers Serving the City” and you would identify the city and the state and select and you will get your area.

Joie Hill: Exactly. Okay?

Sharon Brent: It is very specific when you get to that particular page.

Joie Hill: The second thing that I wanted to point out on this page, is a List of State Rehabilitation Providers. And if you select that this is the list that we maintain here at SSA and it has all the information on the State Voc Rehab Agencies. It even has a link to their website. So this is a great resource to find out about all the State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies. If you could hit your “back” button for me.

The next link I would like to discuss is the Protection and Advocacy link, and that is directly under Lists of State Rehabilitation Providers. The Protection and Advocacy Program is also a part of the Ticket to Work Program. Protection and Advocacy Agencies are in every state, and they will assist beneficiaries with legal matters. If you select that link, you will also get a fact sheet on them, and if you scroll down you will get a state-by-state contact list link that has all of their contact information. Okay?

Laura Farah: This is a wonderful site.

Sharon Brent: Yeah, I am telling you, they have done a wonderful job with this.

Laura Farah: Let me tell you something, this is a great site to begin with, because you have a wealth of information there for the Navigators.

Sharon Brent: It is a huge site.

Joie Hill: Thank you.

Sharon Brent: And it is very well organized. It has gotten much, much better over the years.

Joie Hill: Thank you so much. The next section I would like to bring your attention to is the Advocate section. If you select on the Advocate section, there is one tool that I would like to bring to your attention. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see something that says WorkWorld, it is the very last link on the page. WorkWorld is a software program that is a free download and it helps with what if situations for beneficiaries involving their income and other programs, such as Food Stamps, Section 8 Housing, and things of that nature. So this is a great tool. It is a free download. Social Security has a contract with Virginia .Commonwealth University and they developed this software for us.

Sharon Brent: And there are some states who have taken this software and made itspecific to the state that your in and bring in the state benefit issues, so that can be part of the federal piece and it is very state specific as well.

Joie Hill: So, for more information and to get the free download, you have to visit the WorkWorld site, and we have that link on this page. So this is another tool that can assist Navigators.

Male Participant: I have used that WorkWorld and it is already there, for any state that you are in, it pops up for you almost automatically once you download it. So that is no problem, what state that you are in that it works.

Sharon Brent: But there are certain specific issues that are indicative to the states that are in. Sometimes the Medicaid information may be a little bit different from state-to-state. And so some of the software has been specifically designed along with the federal piece, that Joey is talking about, that is more state specific too. And that varies from state to state. The piece that you are pulling up is available in every state.

Male Participant: Okay, yeah.

Joie Hill: Okay we are almost done. If you could scroll up and select Resources Toolkit for me, this will be the last…..

Male Participant: So, we are going back first?

Joie Hill: No, you can just scroll up to the top of the page and on the left-hand side of navigation links, under “General Information on:” you will see Resources Toolkit, we are almost done. If you could select the Resources Toolkit section for me, I can explain some key features of this. The Resources Toolkit section, is a section that contains information for all of our audiences and that is why we have to separate it, because we wanted to have a place to put information that was specific for everybody, instead of putting everything in those different audiences as described above. One of the things that I would like to point your attention to is the Glossary. The Glossary has an extensive list of definitions that apply to Work Incentive. So if somebody has a question about what something is they can go right to our Glossary and find an exact description. We even had the BPAO program in there and other terms. This is just a good place to refer to, to get definitions.

Sharon Brent: A quick definition of every Work Incentive is in here, which is an interesting way to learn, overall, what the Work Incentives might be.

Joie Hill: Some of the Work Incentives are in here. Most of them are

Sharon Brent: Most of them are, right.

Joie Hill: Yeah. If you could go back to the Resources Toolkit homepage, if you will, there is information on Health Insurance. If you select that link you will find that we have two links there. Information on Medicare and Medicaid, and I am not going to go into what is in both of those sections, but this is just another section that you can find information on health care when you need to for our beneficiaries.

If you scroll back, go back to Resources Toolkit, the next section I want you to look at is the Partner Zone. The Partner Zone is equivalent to what we would call a “links section”. A lot of website have what they call “related links” or “associated links”. Our Partner Zone has links to public organizations and nonpublic organizations that have the same customers that we have. So this is a good place to go to find other websites that have related information and it has a description of those different organizations in there. So that is just a good place to go to get outside of SSA.

If you go back to the Resources Tookkit section, one of the biggest things that OESP publishes every year is the Red Book. And the Red Book is the Work Incentive “bible”. If you can select that, this will be one of your major tools that you use to find out any and everything about the Work Incentives. It has the detailed information. And we have it in two formats. The HTML Format, is the web format. The PDF version, is a version that we made available, so that an individual can print it out if they want to. They can also be ordered. And so, this is where you will go to get all of your detailed information on the Red Book.

Sharon Brent: And it’s cover is red when you get it actually printed out and order it. On the website, obviously, its not, but the cover is red.

Joie Hill: Exactly. We tried to keep the print version as close as possible to the electronic version and this is something that gets updated every year, so we will be posting a 2004 version, sometime in early January. So check back to get the latest edition.

Sharon Brent: And this would also be something that you might want to order in bulk, so that when you have folks that are interested in the Work Incentives, you might have it available to hand them as a resource for them to walk away with.

Joie Hill: Exactly. And Susie provided the link earlier for ordering bulk publications. When you order bulk publications, you will need the publication number and the name of the publication. So if you want to order it, just make sure you get it off the page first.

FemaleParticipant: I have a question. Isn’t the Red Book though, a source, something that a client could, if they wanted to, go into Social Security and request over-the-counter.

Joie Hill: Sure, they could go into a Social Security office. Some of the

Social Security offices may have it on hand and some of them may not. But they could request it in the office. And also Social Security publications, of course, are free.

The next section that I would like you to look at on the left-hand side is the Ticket to Work section. And as everybody knows the Ticket to Work Program is the major program that we are implementing, like I said earlier, nationally this month. This section is a dedicated section for beneficiaries and advocates that contains all of the information on the Ticket to Work Program that anybody would ever want to know. It has a PowerPoint Presentation, there is the Regulations, we have the Question and Answers, we have how the Ticket Program was phased in nationally. There is additional information that I told you earlier about Protection, and Advocacy, and Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach organizations. We also have events on here related to the Ticket to Work Program, a link to the Maximus website, Ticket History. This is the place to go.

In addition to that, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see where it is called the “Ticket Tracker” and here we keep statistics of the Ticket Program, in terms of Tickets being mailed out in the various states. How many tickets have been assigned to the Employment Networks and how many Employment Networks are in each state. The “Ticket Tracker”contains information on Employment Networks. If you scroll down to the bottom of the “Ticket Tracker’, you will see the “State Ticket Tracker” and that contains information on what is going on with the State and the Ticket Program. So if anybody ever wants to know, well, I got this Ticket, how many people are using their Tickets? Or how many Tickets have Social Security sent to people? All of that information is right there. So it is a good tour just to keep track of what is going on with the Ticket Program, in case clients want to know if other beneficiaries are participating. For those who were interested in Employment Networks and what is going on in different states, this has information on how many Employment Networks are in each state.

Sharon Brent: Joie, can I ask you a question. When I am looking at the state agency Ticket information and it says the chart below, is Statistics for State Rehabilitation Agencies, are these the Tickets that have been administered or exchanged with just the state Voc Rehabs, or any Employment Networks in that state?

Joie Hill: Just the State Rehab.

Sharon Brent: Right, so its important for people to know that these are just the State Rehab implemented Tickets, not necessarily with other Employment Networks in that same state.

Joie Hill: Right, the Employment Network Ticket information, is on the page that says “Ticket Tracker”, by itself, then it has Employment Networks. Now you see the fourth column, it says “Ticket Assignments to Employment Networks” and then the other one is just the state, so that is the differentiation.

I thought I was done, but there is just one last little thing I want to share with you. We have a Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel. If you go back to the page that has “Ticket to Work” at the top of it, on the right-hand side, you will see a link that says, where it says “Visit These Other Resources for Additional Information”, it is the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel.

Participant: Where are you?

Joie Hill: On the page that says “Ticket to Work” at the top, if you scroll down on the right-hand column, there is a heading that says “Visit These Other Resources” for additional information.

Sharon Brent: It is pretty far down on the page.

Joie Hill: Yes, it is pretty far down on the page. Do you see it?

Male Participant: Yes.

Joie Hill: There is a link that says Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, is a group of individuals that advise the President, Congress, and Social Security on issues that are related to the Ticket to Work Program. So if you want any information on the advisory panel they have meetings that are open to the public, where they discuss different things that are going on with the Ticket Program. All of the meeting announcements are here. Any reports that they provide to Congress and the President are also on this web site.

[Inaudible]

I am sorry, is there a question?

Female Participant: I am sorry.

Joie Hill: Is there a question?

Female Participant: No, I had someone asking me where I was printing this as you were going through it.

Joie Hill: Like I ways saying, the Work Incentives and Work Incentives Advisory Panel, advises the President, Congress and Social Security on issues related to the Ticket to Work Program and if you are ever interested in attending any of their meetings, or if you are interested in knowing what their advise, or reports are to Congress, all that information is maintained in their website. Their website is a part of the Social Security Website, but it looks different.

Okay, its 4:30, I am sorry I held you so long. If anybody has any questions I would be more than happy to answer them. Like I said, I do manage this website. I maintain it, I keep it up. If anyone has any suggestions or if they have any comments, they can shoot me an email. My email address is in the About Us section under “General Information” on the left hand side. There is a link that says “you should contact our webmaster” and it will come directly to me.

Sharon Brent: Well, to the webmaster, it is a great site. A wealth of information.

Male Participant: You did pretty good.

Sharon Brent: Does anybody have any question that they would like to ask Joie?

Female Participant: I just want to say great job and thank you.

Male Participant: Thank you very much.

Joie Hill: You are welcome.

Sharon Brent: Thank you very much Joie, and for those of you who are interested in the rest of the conferences, I am sure Laura, you are still on the phone?

Laura Farah: I am.

Sharon Brent: Will more than be willing to share the information with you and will probably send it to you in advance anyway, so that you can actually plan, based on your subject matter interests, participating in the other conference calls.

Joie Hill: And I would just like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to share our website with you. Please visit it, so that you can increase our hit statistics. [Laughter] If you have any comments, or suggestions, or if anyone of your clients come to your office and they do not understand our site, I will be more than happy to do anything that I can to improve it and make it easier, provide more information or make it better. One last note, this website is completely accessible by people with disabilities, so anyone who has a visual impairment, anyone who has a hearing impairment can come to our site and access all the information without any problem.

Laura Farah: Oh, that is great.

Sharon Brent: It has audio? It will read things to you?

Joie Hill: For things that we have some video tapes on our site and it will provide it in a tech format.

Sharon Brent: But the idea would be, if someone were to use a special piece of software like JAWS and they would attach it to this site it would not impede the ability for JAWS to read the site?

Joie Hill: Right.

Sharon Brent: For somebody who is visually impaired.

Joie Hill: Right, they can access everything. It is completely accessible.

Sharon Brent: And it isn’t even boring, it is pretty nice looking,[laughs], very nice looking site.

Joie Hill: Thanks.

Sharon Brent: Okay, anybody have any last minute questions that they would like to ask Joie?

Participant: Thank you Joie, you did great.

Sharon Brent: Thank you Joie and thank you everybody for participating today.

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