The Medicaid Purchasing Administration of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) has launched a new Web site ( http://www.pathways.dshs.wa.gov ) designed to give job seekers with disabilities some new tools to help them find employment without worrying about losing health care benefits in the process.

“Many Washingtonians with a disability want to work,” said Stephen Kozak, who led the DSHS team that developed the new site under a $416,305 federal grant. “But these job seekers may fear if they go to work, they’ll lose their health care and Social Security disability benefits, such as SSI or SSDI cash.”

With Pathways to Employment, people can explore different ways to balance benefits and work.

The new Web site, which includes information on health coverage, benefits and employment, will help job seekers with disabilities to:

— Make informed decisions on work by using a benefits estimator (this feature includes allowing users to save what is entered for sharing with others, such as Benefits Planners or other professional helpers);

— Use an online resume builder;

— Watch video success stories of individuals with disabilities who choose work and hear what they have to say about the value it adds to their lives.View information about and when and how best to disclose a disability to an employer or potential employer;

— Access an “employer proximity locator,” which enables a person to obtain names, addresses and telephone numbers of businesses located near his or her home.

Pathways to Employment has other features that encourage employment. Overall, the site aims to create an environment that shows employment as a natural process for persons with disabilities. It also provides information about work incentives attached to different public benefits and the many resources in the community that may help people achieve their career goals.

This new online resource is the result of planning and work done through use of federal funding provided under a Medicaid Infrastructure Grant managed by Stephen Kozak of the DSHS Medicaid Purchasing Administration’s Division of Eligibility and Service Delivery.

The federal grant is steered by a broad-based, cross-agency Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from the state and local programs that serve persons with disabilities. From DSHS, the following programs are represented: Medicaid Purchasing, Aging and Disability Services, Developmental Disabilities, Home and Community Services, Behavioral Health and Recovery, Economic Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Research and Data Analysis. In addition, representatives from the following programs participate: the Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment, Plan to Work, Positive Solutions, the human service divisions of two counties, a mental health consumer and an employment support specialist, the Department of Services for the Blind, the Washington State Rehabilitation Council, the Washington Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, Disability Rights of Washington (Protection and Advocacy System) and Washington Initiative for Supported Employment.