Impacting Entry into Evidence-Based Supported Employment: A Population-Based Empirical Analysis of a Statewide Public Mental Health Program in Maryland

We use discrete-time survival regression to study two empirical issues relating to take-up of individual placement and support (IPS) supported employment (SE) services for persons with serious mental illness: (1) the influence of client characteristics on take-up probability, and (2) the possible impacts of a major recent initiative in one state (Maryland) to overcome barriers to IPS-SE expansion. Our longitudinal analysis of population-based Medicaid cohorts, during 2002-2010, provides tentative evidence of positive state initiative impacts on SE take-up rates, and evidence of effects on take-up for clients' diagnoses, prior work-history, health and demographic characteristics, and geographic accessibility to SE providers.