FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Dirk Anderson
dirk.anderson@vermont.gov
802-828-4391
2024 Vermont Work Disability Prevention Summit Concludes
MONTPELIER, Vt. – Between June and October 2024, the Vermont Department of Labor brought together experts from 27 healthcare, government, employment, and non-profit organizations across Vermont to address and prevent work disability in Vermont collaboratively. Commissioner Harrington’s charge called for a solution to meet the needs of Vermont’s workforce, employers, clinicians, and other return-to-work professionals after VT RETAIN’s federal funding ends in May 2025.
Work disability is a limitation in working ability due to a physical or mental health condition. It can often be prevented and mitigated through Stay-at-Work and Return-to-Work strategies, such as care coordination, early communication, job modifications, retraining, access to work-health services, education, etc. Work disability is a major cause of economic and health inequality. Only 55% of Vermonters with disabilities ages 18-64 years are employed versus 82% of those without disabilities. Vermont has one of the highest rates in the US of young people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits for long-term work disability. Vermont has the third highest percentage of disabled workers with mental health diagnoses in the US (49%), behind New Hampshire (50%) and Massachusetts (53%). This rate has been increasing in Vermont for more than 20 years.
Following the initial summit meeting, participants were divided into three working groups, which put forward recommendations through the lenses of policy, clinical care provision, and employers. The participants in the final Summit meeting narrowed the list of recommendations to three that should be prioritized. These prioritized recommendations were to:
Develop Infrastructure for Work-Health Care Coordination:
Develop a state Work-Health Hub consisting of a team of return-to-work experts and 12 specialized Work-Health Coaches led by an Occupational Medicine Physician to support Vermont clinicians, care coordinators, community health workers, and care teams with patient work-health issues working in conjunction with existing services.
Develop Recovery and Psychologically Healthy Workplaces:
VT RETAIN and Invest EAP Centers for Wellbeing worked together to develop a Resilient Workplace Certification Program for Vermont employers. This program, which received an innovation award from the US Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, provides employers with the knowledge, tools, and resources to create physically and psychologically safe workplaces. The program includes Mental Health First Aid training and an introduction to Behavioral Screening and Intervention to reduce behavioral risk factors associated with anxiety, depression, and substance use and can contribute to employee absence from work.
Raise awareness of the importance of Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work among constituents:
Invest EAP Centers for Wellbeing and Vermont Department of Labor will develop core messaging about the interconnectedness of work and health. This messaging will be used to communicate with employers, care teams, state officials, the public, and other constituents to promote awareness about work disability and support programs and policy development.
About VT RETAIN
Vermont and four other states were awarded a federal grant from the US Department of Labor from 2019-2025 to help keep people at work after an injury or illness. This initiative, Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN), builds on a successful stay-at-work/return-to-work program that originated in Washington State and significantly reduced social security disability costs.
The purpose of VT RETAIN has been to increase the workforce participation of Vermonters with physical and mental health conditions using stay-at-work/return-to-work strategies. The program has sought to identify early and support workers at risk for long-term work disability by coordinating health and employment resources. Our award-winning services were developed with workers, clinicians, employers, and return-to-work professionals to close the gap between often separate employment and health systems.
VT RETAIN has integrated Work-Health Coaching into the primary care setting and used a team-based approach to ensure effective communication with participants’ medical care providers, employers, and other support systems. This has led to partnerships with over 100 primary care clinics across Vermont and nearby New Hampshire, representing most of Vermont’s healthcare systems.
While 10,000 Vermonters have requested VT RETAIN support for diverse physical and mental health barriers to employment, only 2,000 were deemed eligible based on early intervention criteria per federal funding requirements. Over 750 Vermont workers have participated in the VT RETAIN project.
To learn more, visit labor.vermont.gov/vt-retain.
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