Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration

The Social Security Administration and the Department of Labor are undertaking the Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration, which will test promising early intervention approaches to improve the labor force participation and retention of individuals with recently-acquired injuries and disabilities and to reduce their future need for Social Security disability benefits. The Department of Labor (DOL) is funding the intervention approaches and American Institutes for Research to provide programmatic technical assistance for the demonstration. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is funding Mathematica to provide evaluation support for the demonstration, including evaluation-related technical assistance and conducting a comprehensive evaluation. The purpose and proposed use of this information collection is to gather qualitative and quantitative data needed to conduct the analysis, these activities, include (1) surveys of RETAIN enrollees and (2) follow-up interviews with RETAIN service users. The qualitative data collection consists of: (1) semi-structured interviews with program staff and service users; and (2) staff activity logs. Program staff interviews focus on staff’s perceptions of the successes and challenges of implementing each states program, while staff activity logs house information on staff’s time to inform the benefit-cost analysis. Service user interviews inform SSA’s understanding of users’ experiences with program services. The quantitative data include SSA’s program records and survey data. The survey data collection consists of: (1) two rounds of follow up surveys, focusing on individual-level outcomes, with enrollees, all of whom who have experienced a disability onset; and (2) two rounds of surveys with RETAIN providers. The first round of the enrollee survey began in December of 2021 and end in October of 2024. The second round will began in October of 2022 and end in October of 2025. Respondents learn of the RETAIN program data collection efforts through various outreach methods, including, but not limited to mailings, phone calls, and from other individuals. SSA is constantly reviewing our outreach strategies to ensure maximum exposure and accessibility to the materials. the respondents are staff members selected for staff interviews and staff activity logs, and RETAIN service users, enrollees, and providers.

The latest form for Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration expires 2027-05-31 and can be found here.

RETAIN Staff Interviews

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Income Security - General Retirement and Disability