Resources and Toolkits

Tool to help states reduce SNAP errors through improved client forms to report changes, including modifiable template forms for SNAP Periodic Report and SNAP Change Report

Tools and templates for states to improve Medicaid work requirement communications, including paper & online application templates updated post-IFR and digital interactive guide

Video outlining best practices for states to improve their risk assessment and error detection processes, including model design, review sequencing, feature engineering, review process optimization, and quick wins

Resource to explore and compare state-by-state data on eligibility processing, payment accuracy, and policy options

Statement on FY25 SNAP Payment Error Rates, timing, and state cost-sharing

Statement on FY25 SNAP Payment Error Rates and state cost-sharing implications

Multi-state survey summary of state agency work to implement new payment error requirements, prepare for upcoming cost sharing provisions, and strengthen payment accuracy efforts

Article to understand SNAP fraud and program integrity risks, protect SNAP program integrity, and address potential fraud

Tools for data-driven understanding Medicaid work requirements, including information about who’s at risk, automatic verification pathways, ex parte capability by state, coverage loss, and maps

Guide about the member-facing side of implementation, and why user experience is just as important as what happens on the backend

Conversation sharing drivers and targeted interventions to reduce SNAP Payment Error Rates, drawing on six months of hands-on research with Arizona, North Carolina, and Maryland

Best practices for benefit notices, with a focus across on reducing errors, improving comprehension, and making notices more accessible for SNAP and child care

Summary of cost to states based on SNAP 2025 error rates

Overview of SNAP participation losses, possible drivers, and implications

Analysis and dataset providing an overview of how states are using budgets and legislation to respond to H.R. 1.

Paper exploring how uncapped benefit calculations in payment error predictive models can help create space for more “buffer” and create inclusion or exclusion criteria for better targeted reviews and greater predictive power.

Workshop examining how predictive analytics and risk scoring can improve SNAP implementation and evaluation, using Conneticut as a case study.

An analysis projecting Medicaid expansion disenrollments on the national, state, and subgroup level beginning in 2027, estimating between 4.9 million and 10.1 million adults could lose coverage by 2028 due to administrative barriers and reporting requirements.

Interactive tracker to evaluate how prepared states are to implement the Medicaid administrative changes required under H.R. 1, using performance indicators like application processing, call center performance, and disenrollment data. The tool highlights potential risks states may face in maintaining access amid implementation.

An interactive cross-state analysis tool demonstrating how removing the $58 SNAP QC tolerance threshold could increase payment error rates and related state costs.

States face an unrealistic timeline to implement Medicaid work requirements by January 2027 due to the compliance demands of data integration, system upgrades, and application portal modifications. These challenges are compounded by limited federal guidance, technical system constraints, and insufficient state capacity, making it difficult for states to adapt and administer the changes effectively. Consequently,…

An interactive dashboard that enables users to explore and monitor key metrics of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Quality Control (QC) system.

Tracker displaying most recent federal and state agency data on SNAP participation, along with unemployment trends.

Guidance on state policy chocies that tend to increase SNAP payment error rates include requiring change reporting or monthly reporting, imposing asset tests, and limiting discretionary exemptions. In contrast, states can reduce errors by simplifying reporting requirements, using BBCE, applying exemptions, and using one-month lookbacks to minimize reassessments and ensure coverage for eligible populations.

CMS is offering states an open source, consent-based verification tool to streamline implementation of the Medicaid work requirement. This supports income verification for non-traditional workers, allows applicant review, and enables flexible system integration. Emmy API will also provide a single point of access for relevant data sources.

Resource explaining how SNAP’s BBCE helps working families qualify for food assistance by easing income and asset limits. It also outlines the potential negative impacts, such as increased food insecurity, if BBCE were eliminated.

Webinar featuring an in-depth walk through of the screening questionnaire, highlighting design and content decisions made based on feedback from SNAP clients and advocates. Passcode: &Hd64icK

An interactive dashboard that enables users to explore and monitor key metrics of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Quality Control (QC) system.

Resource Hub including data visualization tools, modeling tips, and lessons gathered from States to support the work of QC data modeling nationwide.

Workshop to foster collaboration and share modeling practices among state agencies in response to HR1’s new SNAP PER cost share requirements. Gathering encompassed convened a group of nearly 40 research and data analytics staff from across 15 states involved in SNAP QC data modeling.

Resource outlining data and analytic approaches to support states through the technology implementation and integration process for Medicaid work requirements, with a focus on medical frailty exemptions.

A free resource that focuses on strategies that states can test immediately to reduce PER and lessen the burden on frontline eligibility workers

A CMS-developed suite of open-source tools that streamlines income and community engagement reporting for Medicaid applicants and enrollees

Human-centered design best practices to screen for Medicaid work requirement exemptions

User-tested application templates and resources for Medicaid work requirements

Describes approaches states will take toward implementation, highlights considerations for evaluating vendors, and provides detailed descriptions of vendor products across categories (based on product demos and conversations with vendors)

Open-source community engagement reporting (OSCER) tool enables states to achieve work requirements compliance automatically using client and ex parte data, or otherwise provide link for manual certification or exemption application. Provides staff with case management and reporting tools, and sends results to state Medicaid agencies for issuance or disenrollment.

Centralized hub for OBBBA Medicaid-related information for state implementation support. Features topics outlining communications and outreach, marketplace provisions, work requirements reporting, non-citizen eligibility changes, reporting and evaluation, rural health transformation, and state-specific impact estimates.

Guide on how state agencies can develop legible and flexible metrics to assess implementation of new work requirements, outlining how to build, capture, and effectively utilize metrics to monitor impact for operational awareness and decisionmaking.

Implementation-oriented framework to support states with adapting to community engagement/work requirements. Features overview of “look back” period and four-step compliance flow including: checking for automatic hardship, screening for exemptions, checking for participation, and allowing for requestable hardship.

Outlines cases in which generative AI can be appropriately deployed by grounding use in human-centered problem statements. Highlights practical application such as data extraction, summarization, and entity resolution to reduce caseworker burden while maintaining responsible oversight.

Evidence-based recommendations for states to optimize implementation of work requirements include: integrating compliance and exemption information and reporting into a single streamlined process, designing clear and actionable notices, utilizing text communications, and building mobile-friendly platforms.

Key questions for states to consider in human-centered vendor acquisition, focused on collaborative co-design and continuous feedback from enrollees and caseworkers during systems testing and development, proactive bias mitigation, accessibility, and strong data protection and interoperability standards.

Key questions for states to consider during procurement of new technical systems to ensure proper evaluation of product solutions and their effectiveness.

Guide explaining automatic benefit notice generation process while walking through common underlying system errors (e.g. missing or incorrect information) providing insight on how back-end design decisions cause these issues. Provides strategies to improve notice process and output such as targeted questions on system logic, workarounds for caseworkers, and structural reform through data flow, boilerplate language,…

Guide to provide states with policy and technical strategies to reduce procedural terminations under Medicaid work requirements, including simplifying verification processes, mitigating automation risks, managing vendor

Outlines strategies to reduce coverage losses including minimizing administrative and applicant burden, streamlining verification processes, creating accessible and user-friendly forms and portals, and strengthening communication and outreach efforts.

Repository of resources for state administrators to support the implementation of work requirement policies through overview of implications and recommendations of smart system designs and processes.

Key strategies to improve accuracy and efficiency of SNAP program delivery, including evaluating intervention impacts independently, developing strong proxy metrics, watching for unintended consequences, strategically reviewing most error-prone case elements and actions, leveraging new technology for caseworkers, and improving client communication and outreach.

Features interviews from seven states on adaptation journeys in response to SNAP and Medicaid on integrated eligibility and enrollment. Insights include states awaiting federal guidance, standing up work groups, putting technology road map placeholders, prioritizing SNAP PER, making changes to end-of-life systems, rethinking data sharing, and considering population impacts.

Explainer on state IEE system fundamentals, outlining key technologies, opportunities, risks, and stakeholders involved for implementation guidance to improve benefit accessibility and efficiency.

Outlines four proactive strategies to design resilient and adaptable technical systems including feature flags, modularity, configurability, and phased approaches.

A central resource library for state, local, tribal, and territorial governments working to implement public benefits policy and system changes created through OBBBA, featuring Medicaid work requirements and SNAP PER topic sections.

Blueprint on how work requirement policy impacts the process of SNAP application, determination, and maintained eligibility. Provides human-centered implementation recommendations such as focused support, ease of exemptions, discovery/comprehensive interview to capture compliance.

Various templates for state and local governments to meet OBBBA requirements, including primers for program staff and state leadership, targeted flyers for populations (e.g. veterans, unhoused, older adults), and work requirements checklists.