Georgia model brain injury system (gambis) - the shepherd center and the georgia vocational rehabilitation agency (gvra) are partnering to lead the georgia model brain injury system (gambis)

The mission of gambis is to improve the employment, financial, health, and community participation outcomes of individuals with TBI, and particularly for minority and underserved populations. The goal of our site-specific project, "improving employment outcomes of persons with moderate/severe TBI," is to validate novel vocational rehabilitation (VR) interventions that are coordinated between hospital-based (i.e., shepherd center) and state VR programs (i.e., gvra). The gambis objectives are to: (1) enroll 35+ participants in the tbims NDB annually and conduct follow-up assessments; (2) identify the most clinically and financially effective VR services for individuals with the most significant tbis (i.e., site-specific project); (3) identify predictors of successful rehabilitation outcomes that are amenable to treatment (i.e., personal resources, community resources, sociocultural variables) for individuals with TBI from minority and unserved populations (i.e., collaborative project); and (4) translate knowledge and develop materials tailored for each stakeholder. The anticipated outcomes include: (a) improved employment and financial outcomes for individuals with the most significant tbis; (b) decreased state financial expenditures (i.e., VR costs, ssdi expenditures); (c) a national model for coordinated hospital- and state VR programs; (d) evidence to support financial reimbursement of hospital-based VR services (e.g., private insurance; medicare/ medicaid); and 5) support for increased on-the-job-training interventions by state VR programs. Anticipated products will include academic publications in peer-reviewed journals, professional presentations at rehabilitation conferences (with our partner, the national council for vocational rehabilitation administrators), and VR intervention manuals for stat e vocational rehabilitation program providers.