All Employment Network (EN) Payments Call

September 25, 2012

Agenda

  • Introduction of Speakers
  • How to properly complete Section III of the Employment Network (EN) Payment Request form
  • EN Payments Status Report Overview
  • EN Payment information on EN Portal not on real time
  • 30-day wait prior to checking on a payment status
  • PII procedure for sending and receiving e-mails to and from the EN Payments Help Desk
  • Use of the work case number as a reference in communications sent to the EN Payments Help Desk
  • Use of ‘ipp.gov’ as an EN Payment tracking tool
  • CCR’s transition into SAM
  • EN Payments training resources available online
  • Your Questions and Answers

Aaron Aybar hosted the September 2012 call and introduced the following presenters for the call:

  • Aaron Aybar, EN Payments Help Desk Supervisor; Ticket to Work program
  • Debbra Tennessee, Ticket Operations Manager; Ticket to Work program
  • Desiree Fitzgerald, Director; Social Security Administration Office of Ticket Operations and Provider Support Services
  • Dr. Cara Caplan, Deputy Director; Social Security Office of Ticket Operations and Provider Support Services
  • Kathy Dyson, EN Payments Staff Development Specialist; Ticket to Work program
  • Esther Serna, EN Payments Supervisor; Ticket to Work program
  • Sandra Parker, EN Payments Supervisor; Ticket to Work program

How to properly complete Section III of the EN Payment Request Form (PRF)

(Aaron Aybar)

  • ENs need to complete Section III (3) of the Payment Request form only when requesting Phase 1 Milestone 1 (P1M1) payments. The section can remain blank if any other Phase 1, Phase 2 or Outcome payment is requested.
  • A beneficiary needs to earn over $720/month Trial Work Level (TWL) in order for the EN to qualify for Phase 1 Milestone 1.
  • Section III has three options:
  • Option A. The beneficiary achieved TWL during the calendar claim month.
  • Option B. The beneficiary achieved less than TWL but more than 50% of TWL ($360/month/2012) and is expected to achieve full TWL level during the next two months.
  • Option C. The beneficiary achieved less than TWL and is not expected to achieve full TWL in at least one of the next two months.
  • If the EN chooses Option A, and the required earnings are verified, then the P1M1 payment can proceed normally.
  • If the EN chooses Option B, the EN can receive the P1M1 payment with the caveat that if the beneficiary does not achieve TWL earnings in at least one of the two following months, then the EN will be in Overpayment status and Social Security will ask that the EN pay back the P1M1 payment.
  • If the EN chooses Option C, then the EN should not submit the Payment Request at this time because it will be denied.

EN Payments Status Report (ENPSR) Overview

(Aaron Aybar)

  • Report generated in Excel format, compressed in Zip format and password protected. The password is the EN’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Personal Identification Number (PIN).
  • Sent out every Friday to those ENs that requested previously to receive it
  • Information columns:

a)Name

b)Last Name

c)State in which the beneficiary resides

d)Date Operations Support Manager (OSM) received the Payment Request

e)Date sent to Social Security, if action is needed from the Social Security Payments staff

f)Payment amount

g)Claim month

h)Payment type

i)Description/Comment

j)Process date

k)Evidentiary/Certification

l)Status

m)Follow up needed

n)Workcase number

o)DUNS

p)EN name

  • The ENPSR shows information on payments requests submitted. The information is shown in column format. For example, when an EN sends a payment request for Phase I, Milestones 1, 2 and 3, there will be a total of 3 entries in the ENPSR– one for P1M1, one for P1M2, and one for P1M3. The columns will show all the pertinent information about each entry – when it was received, claim month, type of payment, etc.

Scenario:

Some EN's are concerned about sending multiple requests and they usually ask how they would know that all requests are being processed and not being overlooked.

As ENs go through theirENPSR, look at how many entries were made for that client. If you are expecting 5 payments, there should be 5 entries on the ENPSR. If there are less than 5 entries, please contact the EN Payments Help Desk.

  • Columns A, B, and C contain the client’s first name, last name, and the state they live in.
  • Column D is the date OSM received the PRF.
  • Column Eis the date OSM forwards the case to Social Security for further review. Very few cases are sent to Social Security. Those sent are usually cases that involve unique circumstances.
  • Column F is the dollar amount of the payment. If the case is denied, this column will show $0.
  • Column G displays the claim month. This is usually the month that you are requesting payments for. In cases where multiple months are needed (i.e. P1M3 where six months is needed), only the last month will show here.
  • Colum H is for the type of payment requested.

Example: P1/M1 – Phase I, Milestone 1

P2/M7 – Phase II, Milestone 7

O9 – Outcome #9

R – Reconciliation

An “R”stands forreconciliation payment.Even though it is not processed by OSM, but by Social Security, once it isdone, the record is included in the ENPSR.

  • Column I is the description and comments column.ENs willfind the notes and comments pertaining to the case. It contains information on why a case is denied or pending.“Pending” usually means PRFis incomplete or missinginformation that may require some immediate action from the EN. If this column is blank, it means that the case remains open and it has not been reviewed yet. This is usually the case for recently received PRF.
    This is a new and very important change to the ENPSR. This change allows ENs to see notes regarding denial reasons, which were not available in the past ENPSRs.
  • Column J is the date the payment or denial was processed.
  • Column K shows the type of request submitted – Evidentiary or Certification. If you know for a fact that you sent evidence and you by any chance see that it's assessed certification there, please reach out to us, to the en payments help desk, and we'll look into why because we want to be able to process your payment request properly.
  • Column L shows the current status of the request – Paid, Denied, or Open. This column will show if a case is paid, if it was denied, or if it is open. “Open” means that we are still processing it. It has not fallen by the wayside, some payment requests take a little longer. The payments process is 30 days; the expectation is that we are going to complete the payment process within 30 days. If you see a payment open for a couple of weeks, it is not that it fell by the wayside, it is not that we forgot about it, there are steps in the process that take a certain amount of time. Occasionally, input is needed from Social Securityand other agencies and individuals. This just means we are still processing the request.
  • Column M is EN follow-up needed.
  • Column N is the Work Case Number. This information is what we currently use as reference for inquiries sent electronically.
  • Columns O andP are the EN DUNS and EN Name information.
  • The ENPSR is a very helpful tool that will guide you and provide youwith the majority of the information you need to know as to the status of your payment requests. If there is a denial that is unclear, please reach out to the EN Payments Help Desk.

(Debbra Tennessee)

  • If an EN submits a Payment Request for multiple claim months and many of them cannot be paid,the EN Payments Department will create one denial. The description/comment line on the ENPSR will indicate all of the claim months that the EN submitted.

EN Payment information on EN Portal not on real time

(Aaron Aybar)

  • EN payment information available on the ENPortal is valid as of 3:00PM ET of the prior business day.
  • EN payment information on the ENPSR that is sent by e-mail every Friday is valid as of 3:00 pm Thursday afternoon.
  • ENPSRs will no longer be e-mailed after October 26, 2012. Afterward, the ENPSR will be available solely through the EN portal.
  • The EN Payment information displayed on the ENPortal doesn't look exactly like the e-mailed ENPSR at this time. The differences will be eliminated with the October update to the EN Portal.

30 day wait prior to checking on a payment status

(Aaron Aybar)

  • There is a 30-day time frame for the EN Payments Department to process Payment Requests.
  • Unless an EN sees a ‘Y’ in the “Follow Up Required” column of the ENPSR, please allow the 30 days to pass before contacting the EN Payments Help Desk to inquire.
  • ENs should check their ENPSR often to keep track of Payment Requests.

PII procedure for sending and receiving e-mails to and from the EN Payments Help Desk and use of the Workcase number as a reference in communications

(Aaron Aybar)

  • The EN Payments Help Desk uses the Workcase number from the ENPSR as a reference on e-mails sent to ENs in addition to password protected documents with the beneficiary's SSN.
  • The password for the protected documents will always be the EN’s IVR/Portal PIN.
  • The Work case number can be located on column N of the EN’s ENPSR
  • If an EN doesn’t know its IVRPIN, please reach out to the Systems Help Desk at

Use of ‘ipp.gov’ as an EN Payment tracking tool

(Aaron Aybar)

  • The Invoice Payment Platform (ipp.gov) system allows federal government contractors to track payments as they go through the U.S. Treasury.
  • It is an extremely helpful tool in combination with the ENPSR.
  • ENs can see the exact date payments are deposited in their account and set up email notifications.
  • ipp.govis a free service.

CCR’s transition into SAM

(Aaron Aybar)

  • The federal government has joined the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system and several other different data bases into the System for Award Management (SAM).
  • Former CCR registrantsdo not need to do anything in SAM at this time, unless a change inbusiness circumstances requires updates to the entity's records, in order to be paid, to receive an award or if to renew the entity’s registration prior to its expiration.
  • SAM will send notifications to the registered users via email 60, 30 and 15 days prior to the expiration of the entity's profile.
  • The web site is

EN Payments training resources available online

(Aaron Aybar)

  • The mission of the EN Payments Help Desk is to answer case-specific payment inquiries.If an EN needs training on basic payments processesthere are EN payment related trainings available on the Ticket to Work website (
  • Under the “Payments” tab, ENs can find information on the Outcome/Milestoneand Outcome Only payment systems, Certification of Services and Universal Auto Pay.
  • Link:
  • Under the “Training” tab, ENs can find PowerPoint and text only presentations on several EN payments related subjects. Link:
  • Under the “Conference Calls” tab, ENs can find the minutes for all of the All EN Payment Calls since 09/2011. Link:

Questions and Answers

  1. What can an EN do if it seems that documents faxed to Maximus are not being received?
  • Confirm that the documents are being sent to the only two correct fax numbers for the TTW program, which are (703) 893-4020 and (703) 893-4149.
  • Check the EN Payment Status Report on the EN Portal often to confirm receipt of Payment Requests.
  • Reach out to the EN Payments Help Desk if Payment Request doesn’t appear on ENPSR after seven business days.
  • Check the IVR or EN Portal after the appropriate wait time to confirm receipt of IWPs.
  • Reach out to Account Specialist if Ticket status doesn’t change in IVR or EN Portal after ten calendar days.
  1. Is there any mechanism in place that can prevent ENs from going into overpayment?

No. Due to the manner in which beneficiary earnings information and Vocational Rehabilitation involvement data becomes available to SSA there is always the potential for ENs to incur overpayments. Self-Employed Income cases are particularly susceptible to overpayments because beneficiary earnings information can be made available by the IRS to SSA up to a year and a half after the EN may have received payment.

  1. Why did ENs receive several payments in September that were not requested and are not part of the regular Universal Auto Pay?

A large number of payments were processed for all of the ENs that qualified when SSA performed the yearly review of its earnings records for TTW beneficiaries. These payments are identified in the ENPSR as “SSA Initiated Payments”.

  1. How can an EN know if the Universal Auto Pay application was approved?

Please contact your Account Specialist. If your EN does not receive appropriate support from the Account Specialist, please contact the Senior Account Manager or Initiative Lead above them.

All EN Payments Call – September 2012 / 1