Escrito por: Dave Turner, SVP & General Manager, Government Solutions, Equifax
H.R. 1 is undoubtedly changing the way state agencies determine Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. In the wake of these changes, state agencies are grappling with how to update their processes, keep up with rising workloads, and minimize payment error rates (PER) to avoid cost contributions. All the while, they must continue to deliver appropriate benefits to eligible applicants.
But it’s hard to make meaningful changes when you don’t understand what direction to take. In our recent webinar, H.R. 1 Is Here: Proactive Steps to Help Address States’ SNAP Error Rates, many attendees were anxious about how to interpret mandates and enact change. Many attendees also said they aren’t getting advice in a timely way, which they feel impacts their decisions.
Lighten the Load with Automation
There are things that can help alleviate some of that pressure, like automating processes. Taking certain tasks off caseworkers’ hands can lighten the load. This lets them focus on speeding up eligibility determinations and redeterminations and devoting more attention to more complex cases. As a bonus, automation can also help reduce the number of human errors caseworkers make. That’s especially important since starting in fiscal year 2028, states must contribute to SNAP benefit costs if their PER is 6 percent or greater.
Pinpoint Where Mistakes Happen
There are experts who are offering helpful general advice, but if you’re not getting timely, tailored advice for your state agency, where do you start? Try finding where your team makes the most mistakes and pinpoint the tricky spots. Automation might be able to smooth out those kinks.
You can take it a step further and look for solutions that consider regulation changes, especially ones that are offered by providers that know government regulations well. Try to find solutions that change along with legislation so you can focus on making more effective determination decisions with the data you get.
Fill Non-Traditional Data Gaps
Speaking of data, state agencies have made it clear that they need more insight into two types of income to make eligibility determinations: non-traditional income (income that is not reported on a W-2) and unearned income. This is even more important as the gig-economy and self-employed workers increasingly make up the working population.
But getting information from different income sources can be a lot of work—after all, we’re not just looking at W-2s anymore. Instead of rifling through piles of receipts and bank statements, look for a solution that lets you collect earned and unearned income more easily.
Our Complete Income™ solution includes a secure online portal that connects you to The Work Number®. It lets applicants connect their financial accounts, and enter and upload earned and unearned income and business expenses. Caseworkers receive ready-to-use information that they can use to process eligibility determinations.
Drive Efficient Determinations
“The Work Number is our ‘Saving Grace’ many times, over and over and over again. From the SNAP recipient’s standpoint it eliminates them having to provide paystubs—which are increasingly in electronic form only and hard to obtain.”
– SNAP Caseworker
Ongoing redeterminations are challenging because data can quickly become outdated. For example, income fluctuations between cycles can directly impact benefit eligibility. By utilizing our Continuous Evaluation for SNAP solution, agencies gain access to possible indicators for income and employment changes in a more timely manner. This helps caseworkers better support eligible applicants, learn when additional verifications are needed outside of a renewal, and stay on top of life-change reporting requirements with the help of automated solutions rather than manual tracking.
Additionally, incarceration status also impacts decisions when you’re determining eligibility. We can provide incarceration pointer data in near real-time which indicates when you may need to do more research as part of your verifications in order to help you make better decisions.
Staying in contact with beneficiaries can feel like a hassle when addresses and phone numbers change. But there are so many reasons applicants go through these changes, particularly when they’re vulnerable. We offer solutions that help give you access to current contact and address information so you can do a better job staying connected with beneficiaries when you’re renewing or redetermining eligibility.
Consider Your Return on Investment
Not sure it’s worth investing in an automated solution? Consider how much money errors can cost. Do the math and calculate what a PER above 6 percent could cost under the new H.R. 1 legislation compared to the money you could save by using an automated solution. It just might strengthen your business case.
If you need automation or access to more data to improve your team’s processes, eligibility solutions from Equifax can help. Connect with us to see how our Eligibility Suite™ for SNAP can support your agency’s needs.
Acerca del autor
Dave Turner
Dave Turner, SVP & General Manager, Government Solutions, Equifax
David Turner is a highly accomplished executive with over 25 years of experience across public and private sector markets, including more than 18 years focused directly on technology and operations clients. He has a proven track record of successfully growing and delivering business, with solid experience in business development, P&L management, portfolio management, and strategy development for large, diverse organizations.
A strong leader, Dave has formed entire P&L and business development organizations to support overall corporate growth strategies. He maintains strong client and partner relationships across major client markets. His expertise is rooted in the best use of successful project delivery, public relations, government relations, and marketing as critical keys to business growth within the government marketplace.
Esta publicación fue aportada por un miembro de APHSA. Socio estratégico de la industria. Las perspectivas y opiniones expresadas son las del autor o autores y no representan necesariamente las opiniones de APHSA.