Healthcare providers play a key role in helping employees stay at work or return to work safely. MN RETAIN can assist providers and their patients by shortening needless time away from work.
MN RETAIN Phase II Healthcare Collaboration
The Minnesota Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network (MN RETAIN) Program helps MN workers stay at work and return to work after personal or occupational injury or illness. This program is funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, and the Social Security Administration.
During the Phase 1 demonstration project, the MN RETAIN Program successfully developed protocols, processes, and collaboration among various state agencies, workforce development organizations and the Mayo Clinic and served 150 ill/injured workers. Phase II will expand the program to include 3,200 participants across Minnesota and is designed to validate and bring to scale evidence-based strategies aimed to increase employment retention and reduce long-term work disability. Primary goals of Phase 2 include statewide expansion and support to ill/injured workers especially underserved populations. Workers must have the right to work in the US to receive RETAIN services.
We are seeking Letters of Interest from healthcare organizations throughout Minnesota who want to participate in Phase 2 of the RETAIN Program. Healthcare organizations that reach traditionally underserved populations (e.g., Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), Refugees, Veterans, and individuals with disabilities) are especially encouraged to participate. All applications for option 2 or 3 below will be reviewed by a diverse panel to select subrecipient organizations. The selection criteria will include ability to identify patients who could benefit from RETAIN, outreach to underserved patient populations or patients with unique needs, anticipated number of patients referred/enrolled, geographic dispersion of healthcare sites, Social Vulnerability Index within geographic catchment area, and historic SSDI utilization of patients in counties receiving healthcare from the organization.
Healthcare organizations can participate in multiple ways:
Option 1: Serve as a referral source for patients to receive RETAIN services – any healthcare organization/medical provider can do so.
- Each patient who enrolls in the RETAIN intervention group will have free Return to Work Case Manager services.
- Some patients may be eligible for free workforce development services.
- RETAIN staff work closely with patients, their employers, and treating providers to help MN workers stay at work.
- HIPAA releases will be obtained to support communication between the RETAIN staff and healthcare team.
Option 2: Become a core RETAIN healthcare site/subrecipient. Each subrecipient selected will receive funding to support their collaboration in RETAIN. Core healthcare subrecipients must:
- Identify a provider to serve as a local RETAIN champion (up to 0.1 FTE will be reimbursed through RETAIN).
- Support one or more trained RETAIN Return to Work Case Manager(s) to work within their healthcare team including EMR access, work site, and email access. Salary funding will be provided through RETAIN.
- Have the ability to identify patients eligible for RETAIN.
- Coordinate with the lead healthcare organization, Mayo Clinic, to ensure Institutional Review Board reciprocal agreement.
- Participate in a multidisciplinary, statewide network that supports the workforce of MN.
Option 3: Become a strategic RETAIN partner. Interested healthcare organizations who are not able to meet the requirements in Option 2 are encouraged to reach out to the MN RETAIN leadership group to discuss your patient population and needs. RETAIN may be able to design customized services to support your team including but not limited to:
- Connecting healthcare workers with free education on the benefits of returning patients to work
- Identification of a RETAIN Return to Work Case Manager who could partner with your site part-time, access to Occupational Medicine expertise and work restriction guidance for your patients who enroll in RETAIN
Join RETAIN to help your patients and keep the MN workforce strong!
If this program looks like it would be a good fit for your organization, please contact RETAIN@mayo.edu. If you wish to learn more about this opportunity, please review our website (mnretain.com) or call 507-284-4537. We welcome the opportunity to discuss the advantages MN RETAIN collaboration will provide to your organization and the patients you serve!
MN RETAIN Health Care Provider Training course
Healthcare providers have a key role to play in supporting their patient’s return-to-work plan. MN RETAIN has partnered with Mayo Clinic health care providers to develop a CME accredited training course entitled Preventing Needless Work Disability: The Healthcare Provider Role. This course, comprised of three modules, covers the following topics:
- Evaluating your patients for return-to-work
- Writing functionally based recommendations
- Understanding how other members of your healthcare team can help
Click on the link below for further information about this course and how to obtain CME credit.
HealthCare Provider Training Course
In partnership with MN RETAIN, a complementary registration sponsorship code can be entered to complete this online course: OL-21R00963
