ESTIMATE

The goal of the ESTIMATE project is to improve the quality of work disability evaluations used in disability benefit decisions. This will be achieved by building a large, representative database of residual work capacity ratings and developing a Bayesian hierarchical model to produce more accurate and reliable estimates. A dataset published in 2021 is currently being re-analyzed using Bayesian methods to demonstrate the advantages of Bayesian hierarchical modeling. This approach allows for quantification of uncertainty in residual work capacity estimates and applies shrinkage toward a common mean by enabling groups to share information through hyperpriors.