Vermont RETAIN Impact Evaluation

One-Year Impact Evaluation of Vermont Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN)

The Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) to improve employment outcomes for individuals who experience injuries or illnesses that put them at risk of exiting the labor force and relying on disability programs and other public supports in the long term. RETAIN projects include a combination of medical provider services, stay-at-work/return-to-work (SAW/RTW) coordination services, and other SAW/RTW services. This evaluation will focus on the Vermont Department of Labor's implementation of "Vermont RETAIN" statewide. The evaluation will document how the project is implemented, describe enrollees, estimate the project's impacts on enrollees' outcomes, and assess whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Disability
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Vermont RETAIN

Detailed Description

The Vermont Department of Labor is partnering with health care, employment, and other entities to implement "Vermont RETAIN." SSA contracted with Mathematica to conduct an independent evaluation of the program. Under the RETAIN model medical providers receive training and incentives to use occupational health best practices. The state agency also coordinates SAW/RTW services for the enrollee, fosters communication among Vermont RETAIN stakeholders about the treatment enrollee returning to work, and monitors the enrollee's medical and employment progress. Providers at participating practices are trained in the Vermont Best Practice Resources and Training, which explains how to identify early and then manage the risk of work disability to help prevent long-term unemployment. Participants undergo a systematic assessment of barriers to work, work goals, and function in order to create a personalized RTW plan; RTW coordinators use a strength-based coaching model and provide care coordination through a customized mobile health app.

Vermont plans to work with 68 primary care practices across the state and enrolls clusters of medical practices to participate in the study. The evaluation team randomly assigns each cluster to either a treatment or control group. Mathematica conducts random assignment of clusters on a rolling basis as Vermont enrolls clusters. Vermont invites eligible individuals who see a medical provider in either the treatment or control group to enroll in the study. Individuals who see a provider that has been randomly assigned to the treatment group and who enroll in the study are considered "treatment group enrollees" and are eligible for Vermont RETAIN services. Individuals who see a provider in the control group and enroll in the study are considered "control group enrollees" and are not eligible for Vermont RETAIN services.

The evaluation team then compares the outcomes of the treatment and control groups and gathers evidence on how RETAIN shaped the outcomes of enrollees who were eligible for its services, regardless of whether they participated in those services. Data sources include enrollment data, surveys, administrative records, program data, and qualitative data.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 798
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New Hampshire
    • Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States, 03756
      • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years or older
• Live or work in Vermont (or if out of work, lives in a border state and plan to work in Vermont)
• Currently employed or actively looking for a job
• Have an injury or illness that is limiting or could limit ability to stay at or return to work
• The injury or illness occurred, flared, or worsened within the past 6 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Has received care of coordination services from RETAIN before
• Has an active SUD that is currently untreated
• Has been out of work for more than 12 weeks due to injury, illness, or flare
• Currently applying for or receiving disability benefits from Social Security Administration

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: RETAIN Programming; The experimental group receives the full set of RETAIN intervention activities.	Other: Vermont RETAIN; RETAIN projects include a combination of medical provider services, stay-at-work/return-to-work (SAW/RTW) coordination services, and other SAW/RTW services. The evaluation compares the treatment group that is eligible to receive the full set of RETAIN intervention activities and a control group that is not.
No Intervention: Control; This arm receives information about American Job Center services and assistance with opening a JobLink account if an individual doesn't have one. Medical providers at all practices will receive training on how to identify early and then manage the risk of work disability to help prevent long-term unemployment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Share of enrollees employed in the fourth quarter after enrollment	Share of enrollees employed in the fourth quarter after enrollment obtained from state unemployment insurance wage records. These files include individual-level wage records for six quarters surrounding enrollment in the study, including the quarter prior to enrollment, the quarter of enrollment, and four post-enrollment quarters.	Measured in the fourth quarter after enrollment
Enrollee earnings in the fourth quarter after enrollment	Sum of enrollee earnings in the fourth quarter after enrollment obtained from state unemployment insurance wage records. These files include individual-level wage records for six quarters surrounding enrollment in the study, including the quarter prior to enrollment, the quarter of enrollment, and four post-enrollment quarters.	Measured in the fourth quarter after enrollment
Share of enrollees that applied for SSDI or SSI during the 12 months after enrollment	Share of enrollees that applied for SSDI or SSI during any of the 12 months after enrollment obtained from SSA program data. These files include detailed information about Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications SSDI and SSI awards, SSDI and SSI benefit amounts and enrollee characteristics (for enrollees who have ever applied for SSA program benefits)	Measured in the 12 months after enrollment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Collaborators: Social Security Administration
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jill Berk, PhD, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): August 18, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): February 28, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 23, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 23, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): December 6, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 6, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 5, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: disability; employment; unemployment
• Other Study ID Numbers: RTN-VT; OD-36366-21-75-4-50 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Social Security Administration)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No