E1MN, a state-agency partnership working together
to deliver a more seamless and timely employment support
system.
VRS and SSB have an important responsibility
to provide initial job supports when someone gets a job
and communicate with the waver case manager about the job
details so they can begin the waiver employment
support services authorization.
These are critical supports for the person
to be successful in their new employment
and to seamlessly transition from find
to keep phase services.
Let's begin by looking at how you as the VRS/SSB counselor
fulfill this responsibility during the find phase.
Then we can look at how you support the transition
to the keep phase.
As a reminder, during the find phase,
the focus is on helping a person find a job and initial support
services to help that person become stable in employment.
In your role as a VRS/SSB counselor,
once a person finds a job, you have
an important responsibility to ensure
the person has the initial support services they need
to become stable in that job.
To fulfill this responsibility, you'll
need to coordinate with the VR employment service provider
on providing the initial job supports.
It's also important that you support the person
with notifying the waiver case manager about the new job.
When the person secures employment,
the VR employment service provider
will complete the VRS/SSB employment verification form
and share it with you.
They will also help the person upload it to their My Vault,
if the person has one, and share it
with the waiver case manager.
Since you have a lead role during this phase,
make sure the waiver case manager has received
the information about the new job,
including the person's job title,
hourly wage, average weekly hours worked,
hire and start dates, and the name of the business.
The waiver case manager will use this information
to authorize waiver employment support services if needed.
This could take up to 30 days, so it's
important to start the process immediately.
The waiver case manager will also
coordinate with the waiver employment support service
provider, which may or may not be
the same provider as the VRS/SSB employment service provider.
Lastly, you need to determine the person's stability date
with them and communicate that stability date with the waiver
case manager.
The person's stability date is the date
they're considered to be stable in their job.
This typically happens when the person is satisfied
with the job, the employer is satisfied
with the person's performance at work,
and there are adequate employment supports in place
to ensure continued employment stability.
When the person is stable in their job,
they're ready to transition to waiver employment support
services if needed.
Based on earlier coordination, the waiver case manager
should be ready to authorize waiver employment support
services and make sure they are provided.
You can read about transitioning to waiver employment services
on the work toolkit under Supporting People on Waivers
on the Find page.
The person moves into the keep phase once they transition
to waiver employment support services.
As a reminder, during the keep phase,
the person receives the supports they need to keep their job.
While the waiver case manager has the lead role
during this phase, the VRS/SSB counselor
is responsible for proactively staying
in contact for up to 90 days and then closing
the persons VRS/SSB case.
It's important for the VRS/SSB counselor, the waiver case
manager, and the person to stay in contact during this period
to ensure a smooth transition to long-term employment
supports and the person's success on the job.
That wraps up this overview of your responsibility
with initial job supports and communicating
with the waiver case manager.
As you saw in this video, by collaborating
with other professionals, you're helping
to achieve the shared vision.
Together, we will work to align our systems so that people
who are on HCBS disability waivers
get seamless and timely supports to make informed choices
and meet competitive, integrated employment goals.