Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

After thorough review and evaluation, BRS determined that Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) need to implement an order of selection for serving eligible individuals in August, 2017. VR lacks sufficient resources to serve all eligible individuals, as further outlined below. This determination follows identification and implementation of numerous strategies to improve capacity over the past several years, and ongoing efforts to increase capacity. Despite those efforts, VR continues to experience significant challenges in recruiting qualified personnel and consistently maintaining manageable caseload sizes uniformly across the state. VR also continues to lack sufficient fiscal resources to serve all eligible individuals.

As such, Indiana VR anticipates that available and projected resources will not be adequate to ensure the provision of the full range of vocational rehabilitation services, as appropriate, to all eligible individuals in federal fiscal years 2020-2021.

VR anticipates that it will be necessary to continue with the closure of two of its three priority categories under the order of selection described below.  The order of selection was implemented August 1, 2017 after receiving approval from the Rehabilitation Services Administration. As of August 1, 2017, individuals determined eligible and assigned to the MSD priority category are served.  BRS will annually evaluate available personnel and fiscal resources, to determine whether resources will be adequate to provide services to additional eligible individuals who are deferred for services in a closed disability priority category, while offering the full range of services to individuals implementing an IPE and meeting federal timeliness requirements.

Priority Categories:

Effective August 1, 2017, individuals are served in the following order of priority under the Order of Selection:

• Priority Category 1: Individuals determined to have a most significant disability (MSD);
• Priority Category 2: Individuals determined to have a significant disability (SD); and,
• Priority Category 3: All other eligible individuals (Individuals determined to have a non-significant disability (NSD)).

MSD: An individual who has a severe physical or mental impairment that seriously limits three or more functional capacities (communication, interpersonal skills, mobility, self-care, self-direction, work skills, or work tolerance) in terms of an employment outcome, requires multiple vocational rehabilitation services over an extended period of time, and has one or more physical or mental disabilities determined to cause comparable substantial functional limitation.

SD: An individual who has a severe physical or mental impairment that seriously limits one or more functional capacities (communication, interpersonal skills, mobility, self-care, self-direction, work skills, or work tolerance) in terms of an employment outcome and whose vocational rehabilitation can be expected to require multiple vocational rehabilitation services over an extended period of time.

NSD:    All other VR eligible individuals.

Basis for Order of Selection – Prohibited Factors:

The Order of Selection shall not be based on any other factors, including:

(1)        Any duration of residency requirement, provided the individual is present in the State;

(2)        Type of disability;

(3)        Age, gender, race, color, or national origin;

(4)        Source of referral;

(5)        Type of expected employment outcome;

(6)        The need for specific services or anticipated cost of services required by an individual; or

(7)        The income level of an individual or an individual’s family