Eligibility and Order of Selection Unit

SVRI developed the Eligibility Unit in partnership with Wisconsin DVR in 2015. The innovative environment at SVRI allowed for piloting this project with early stages and planning completed by a small but dedicated staff. SVRI continues to work with WI DVR diminishing the time needed to return each case to Wisconsin DVR for review. WI DVR Eligibility Assessment Services Process (pdf) 

• Efficient: Increased overall cost efficiency by an average of 13% per year over 5 years, over the same period SVRI has decreased the per case cost by 5%
• Timely: Increased the timeliness of determinations by 44% in 5 years and exceeds the contract target of 35 days by 46%.
• Cost Effective: Decreased per case actual cost by 5% over a 5-year period 

• Expedited Eligibility Recommendation: Produces a high quality, consistent, and objective eligibility recommendation in 26 days or less on average.
• Specialized Eligibility Expertise: Staff are highly trained and experienced in one area of the VR eligibility process. On average 525 eligibility reviews and recommendations per year are processed by each EOS staff member.
• Subject Matter Experts: Areas of expertise include interpreting RSA eligibility regulations, understanding and applying “serious limitation”, recommending disability classifications for Order of Selection, reviewing and understanding documentation.
• Objective Inter Rater Reliability: Staff are not involved in any aspect of the continuation of the case, we are objective, non-biased, and have a high degree of inter rater reliability.

• Eliminate Geographic Variation in Determinations: Consistent, objective, unbiased recommendations regardless of consumer location.
• Adaptability to Spikes in Applications: Provides VR agency with nimble flexibility when applications spike or staff turnover creates backlogs.
• Improved Accessibility & Availability to VR Application & Eligibility Process: EOS has always conducted intakes and determinations by phone or virtually using Microsoft Teams reducing the need for consumer travel. Staff are available to consumers from 6 AM to 7 PM CST.

• Staff Workload Maximization: Saves VR agency staff from time-consuming busy work thereby reducing workload and allowing for reallocation to more essential tasks.
• Timeliness: Reduces the time from application to eligibility and reduces the need for signed extensions. Decreases consumer complaints and the time staff spend dealing with them.
• Consistent Defensible Recommendations: Consistent, objective, unbiased recommendations by a third party with no self interest in ongoing services.
• Standardization: The standardized and consistent report format simplifies case reviews, saves staff time, reduces individual variance and interpretation.
• Improved Staff Morale: VR Staff can spend time helping clients rather than playing phone tag or tracking down ROI’s.
• Training Efficiency: SVRI and the state agency can focus intensive training for EOS staff that brings clarity and consistency to eligibility recommendations because that is all we do.

• Rapid Client Engagement: Staff engage with clients immediately and complete the process in a rapid and timely manner that improve consumer engagement.
• The Client Story: The EOS report gives the VR Counselor a rich and holistic history of the individual including educational background, employment history, disability, and social history. Many times, there is enough information for VR Counselors and clients to move to IPE development.
• Time: The VR Counselor has a reduced time commitment for new applications and can prioritize time to clients who are eligible.
• Workload Reduction: The VR Counselor has fewer busy tasks and tracking to meet timelines, this is all done by EOS.
• Flexibility: VR Counselors can triage incoming cases and use EOS to manage workload and case flow.