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Reach Up Annual Report 2020 12 Independent Medical Review Team The Department contracts with two physicians and a nurse practitioner to review medical deferment requests to determine whether to uphold the original treatment provider’s recommendation, modify it, or to deny the request.14 The Medical Review Team’s expertise includes psychology/mental health, pediatrics, and general practice. In FY19, 719 medical deferment requests were reviewed and most of those decisions resulted in a modified work requirement or brief deferment followed by modification; 349 of these were duplicative reviews15. The following chart illustrates a breakdown of cases reviewed during the last fiscal year:

Deferment Determination Breakdown

Denial Modification Deferment followed by Modification Full Deferment Total Needed In the Home16 0 25 36 33 94 Medical 6 235 306 78 625 Total 6 260 342 111 719

Section 2: Participant Outcomes

Charts in this section illustrate monthly averages of Reach Up and Reach Ahead participants’ work by occupation, industry, and wages based on data from October 2018 through September 2019. It does not include the Postsecondary Education program. The last chart illustrates the number of families that moved off assistance.

Participant Employment Data The charts below illustrate occupations of an average of 896 Reach Up and Reach Ahead participants per month who are working. Of the 896 participants, 564 are in the Reach Ahead program. Within Reach Up, 332 are working; this figure demonstrates that 13% of adults in Reach Up work while remaining eligible for the program.

14 The medical review process was implemented pursuant to 33 V.S.A. 1114(b)(5) and (d). 15 Duplicative reviews are cases where the timeframe for the deferment has ended, and they are being reviewed again for possible continued deferment or modification. 16 Needed in the home to care for a seriously ill or disabled family member, usually a child