Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

Supported employment means competitive employment in an integrated setting with ongoing support services for individuals with the most significant disabilities. This service is intended for individuals:

• For whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred or for whom competitive employment has been interrupted or intermittent as a result of a significant disability; and
• Who, because of the nature and severity of the disability, need intensive supported employment services from Kansas Rehabilitation Services (KRS) and extended services/ongoing support from non-VR sources such as community agencies in order to perform the work and maintain employment.

Supported employment also includes transitional employment for individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. Transitional employment means a series of temporary job placements in competitive work in integrated settings with ongoing support services for individuals with the most significant disabilities due to mental illness. In transitional employment, the provision of ongoing support services must include continuing sequential job placements until job permanency is achieved.Supported employment services provided by KRS are time-limited and are provided for a period not to exceed 24 months unless the consumer and counselor agree to an extension in order to achieve the objectives identified in the Individual Plan for Employment. Any appropriate service needed to support and maintain an individual in supported employment may be provided. Services typically focus on:

• Job development and placement.
• Intensive on-the-job training and other training provided by skilled job coaches.
• Regular observation and coaching of the consumer at the work site.
• Discrete post-employment services that are not available from an extended services provider and that are necessary to maintain the job placement, such as job station redesign; repair and maintenance of assistive technology; and the replacement of prosthetic and orthotic devices.
• Coaching to develop natural supports.

Through customized employment provider agreements, six key components or milestones are specified for supported employment services:

1. Creation of a job development action plan.

2. Placement.

3. Stabilization.

4. 45 days of continuous, successful employment.  (This represents a milestone achievement but is not the final criteria for successful case closure.  See #6 below.)

5. Finalization of an extended ongoing service plan.

(This plan describes how the supported employment service provider will maintain extended supports once the time-limited VR services end. Or, the plan may describe how the overall community service system will provide the extended supports the consumer will need to maintain employment. These extended supports are not funded with VR dollars.)

6. Successful VR case closure in accordance with all of the requirements set out in federal regulations.  The individual has maintained employment and achieved stability in the work setting for a minimum of 90 days after transitioning to extended services.

Direct hourly job coaching services are provided for VR consumers in conjunction with the Supported Employment and Customized Employment milestones services described above. Short and long-term individualized job coaching is also provided through service provider agreements.

After the time-limited VR services end, the supported employment service provider maintains extended ongoing services with the consumer or has identified a plan specifying how the community-service system will provide the extended ongoing supports the consumer needs to maintain employment. These extended services are not funded with VR dollars. To reinforce and maintain stability of the job placement, ongoing services include regular contacts with:

• The consumer.
• Employers.
• Parents, guardians or other representatives of the consumer.
• Other appropriate professional, advisory and advocacy contact persons.

Individual job placements in competitive, integrated employment are the outcome of supported employment services funded by KRS. Such outcomes have higher earnings, consumer choice, community integration and more co-worker interaction. KRS supported employment outcomes do not include enclaves, work crews or other congregate work settings.

Service delivery system

In implementing supported employment services, KRS emphasizes the importance of geographic distribution of services. KRS also places a priority on working with community agencies with the capacity to provide extended/ongoing support services. Providers include community developmental disability organizations, mental health centers, independent living centers, and other public and private entities. Provider agreements:

• Describe the time-limited services that will be provided through KRS for eligible individuals with the most significant disabilities.
• Address responsibility of the providers to coordinate the community service system, which has responsibility for funding and providing the extended ongoing services necessary for the consumer to maintain employment once they exit the VR program.

The Individual Plan for Employment is used as the basis for referral to one of the providers. It also describes the criteria, specific to each consumer, for determining that job performance is stable, determining how and when progress will be evaluated, and describing how extended ongoing support services will be provided. After the consumer reaches stability on the job, the consumer, service provider and VR counselor work together to finalize the plan for extended ongoing support services. This allows the plan to be specific and customized according to the consumer’s current work situation and support needs. As a result, the ongoing support section of the IPE may be amended, with the consumer’s agreement, in order to reflect the most current information available.

Quality of services

VR counselors and regional management staff are charged with assuring the quality of services provided. KRS will develop updated reports on provider performance to assist consumers in selecting services, to assist KRS and its providers in monitoring performance, and to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

The performance of these providers in helping consumers secure meaningful employment and wages consistent with their goals and priorities significantly impacts the overall KRS performance on standards and indicators. Therefore, accountability benchmarks have been established with the target of 80% of persons referred to service providers obtaining jobs within an average of 120 days, and 60% of persons referred achieving successful closures. The goal is a network of effective supported employment providers whose focus is on the vocational objectives, goals, rehabilitation needs and priorities of the consumers to be served. Improved Information Technology support solutions are needed to better track and assess service provider outcomes and to produce “report cards” of performance.

The End-Dependence Kansas Initiative will provide direct service contracts to disability services providers to build and maintain their capacity to provide two evidence-based models: Individual Placements and Supports and Individualized Discovery/Supported employment.