The Ticket to Work program does not eliminate the VR cost reimbursement payment system which pays State VR agencies (and, until phased out, alternate participants) for the cost of services they provide to a beneficiary/recipient who performs 9 continuous months of substantial gainful activity (SGA) and meets certain other reimbursement conditions. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-170) phased out alternate participants receiving payment for service.[Comment: Consider whether to omit the reference to alternate participants entirely, as the phase out is presumably complete. See 20 C.F.R. § 411.720.]

Continue to follow the instructions in DI 13510.010 on determining and certifying a VR continuous period of SGA for title II and title XVI beneficiaries when a Form SSA-289-U3 (Request for Certification of SGA for Vocational Rehabilitation Reimbursement) is received.

• •

  A ticket case in which a State VR agency exercises its option to be paid under the VR cost reimbursement system rather than the EN payment system. (See DI 55060.005C.1.)

• •

  A case in which a State VR agency serves a non-ticket beneficiary/recipient.

NOTE: Under the traditional VR cost reimbursement program, SSA will pay for the services that a State VR agency provides to a beneficiary/recipient before that beneficiary/recipient first becomes ticket-eligible, provided that the services result in the beneficiary/recipient completing a 9-month continuous period of SGA.