Policy & Practice | Fall 2026

The Challenge of DeliveringToday While Building for the Future Many SNAP agencies are cur rently navigating a dual imperative: maintain or improve compliance and operational stability today while planning for a more modern, efficient, and resilient future. The reality is that states need to prioritize near-term actions to address performance challenges, including reducing payment error rates, stream lining eligibility determinations to improve timeliness, and managing workload pressures. These targeted interventions play an essential role in sustaining operations and mitigating financial risk. At the same time, achieving longer-term progress may require a modernization plan that connects near-term performance priorities with a defined future-state vision. This plan doesn’t need to be at odds with today’s needs. By synchronizing immediate improvements with a defined mod ernization plan, states can improve performance and operational stability now while building the foundation for incremental enhancements or broader system transformation later. A structured approach—stabilize, redesign, and scale—offers a practical way to sequence efforts and avoid the

tradeoffs that often undermine both near-term performance improvements, and process and system modernization. Stabilize First by Strengthening Accuracy and Capacity Start by stabilizing operations and improving accuracy at key decision points. Traditionally, many agencies have relied on downstream quality assurance processes to identify and correct errors after eligibility determi nations have been made. A more effective strategy is a pro active approach to error prevention: catching errors before benefits are issued, flagging missing or conflicting information early, and guiding case workers through complex decisions. proactive approach to error prevention: n Catching errors before benefits are issued n Flagging missing or conflicting information early n Guiding caseworkers through complex decisions By embedding upstream quality assurance processes and technology improvements directly into eligibility workflows, data inconsistencies within cases can be identified and resolved before benefits are issued. Technology enabled, human-in-the-loop tools can reduce staff burden and improve accuracy at the point of action. Additionally, by focusing on continuous case confidence rather than just case completion, agencies can better assess readiness, route work appropriately, and target supervision where the risk of error is greatest. Stabilization also requires addressing staff capacity constraints. Skilled workforce shortages and fluctuating caseloads strain staff and contribute to processing delays and errors. Blended workforce models that combine state staff, contractors, and automation offer the flexibility to manage surges. SHIFT FROM CASE COMPLETION TO CASE CONFIDENCE A more effective strategy is a

Agencies can deploy surge support to stabilize operations during peak demand or policy-driven workload spikes. When effectively integrated, this approach combines staff augmen tation with technology and process support to maintain or improve performance standards without over burdening existing teams. By focusing on proactive accuracy, upstream quality assurance, and flexible staff capacity, agencies can reduce rework, improve consistency, and create a more stable operational baseline. This stability is essential to enable the next phase of transforma tion and ensure modernization efforts succeed without introducing new operational risks. Redesign Next by Reworking Processes to Enable Modernization With operations stabilized and vari ability reduced, agencies can turn to redesign, reworking processes and workflows to support long-term modernization. It’s key to remember that moderniza tion alone cannot solve deeply rooted operational challenges. Without first addressing how work gets done, sig nificant technology upgrades risk automating inefficient processes or reinforcing existing silos. Business process reengineering—informed by real-time data and the knowledge of where and when bottlenecks and errors occur—provides a structured approach to redesigning workflows, staffing models, and decision points to improve efficiency and consistency. This does not always require replacing or heavily modifying core eligibility systems, which can be slow, costly, and difficult to change. Instead, agencies can introduce focused deci sion-support capabilities that work alongside existing eligibility systems to help guide staff decision making and streamline workflows. Key operational components often present the best opportunities for improvement: n Complexity-based routing and task assignment can ensure eligibility tasks are directed to the appropriate staff with supporting technology, reducing bottlenecks.

David Crowson is the Senior Vice President of Business Solutions for Maximus.

Pat Aguilar is the Managing Director of Program Modernization for Maximus.

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Policy & Practice Fall 2026