Cover Image: White bar on top that shows the logo for Vermont Retain - a little green silhouette of the state of Vermont, the words Retain Vermont, and Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network. The bottom portion of the image shows a beautiful photo of Vermont mountains and flowers with the words overlaid on top - Preventing Work Disability Across the State, Supporting the Health of All Vermont Workers

The Vermont Department of Labor recently received a second phase Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. RETAIN aims to improve work outcomes for Vermonters with injuries or illnesses by working with primary care practices, and their patients, throughout the state of Vermont.

VT RETAIN, in collaboration with primary care providers, helps Vermonters navigate the maze of medical treatment, recuperation, and return to work process. As part of OneCare’s efforts to increase utilization of primary care as a means to achieve better health outcomes and prevent high cost of care when injury and prevention aren’t properly addressed, OneCare is proud to facilitate primary care participation with RETAIN on this important initiative to help Vermonters return to work.

Dr. Carl Beckler of Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region said: “VT RETAIN has been a very helpful resource as they do a great job of being a liaison between the patient/employee, employer, physician and employment services. VT RETAIN has been very easy to refer to, and work with. We look forward to continuing to make referrals to them.”

The RETAIN grant will help Vermont take yet another step towards creating a system of care that has a plan to assist people with navigating the many complexities of health care – including return to work after illness or injury.

Dr. Norman Ward

Chief Medical Officer, OneCare Vermont

Via VT RETAIN:

Why is getting back to work quickly so important? The longer it takes an employee to return to work, the less chance there is of ever returning. A worker who has three months of work disability has a 50% chance of returning to work. ​The likelihood of a worker returning to work after a year of work disability is less than 15%.

VT RETAIN has been a very helpful resource as they do a great job of being a liaison between the patient/employee, employer, physician and employment services. VT RETAIN has been very easy to refer to, and work with.

We look forward to continuing to make referrals to them.

Carl Beckler, MD

Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region

For more information:

Please contact Public Affairs at OneCare Vermont. public@onecarevt.org | 802-847-1346

To stay up to date on OneCare, please visit our news blog and our social media channels on LinkedIn and Twitter.