Policy & Practice | Summer 2024

Payment Error Rates: Understanding What They Are and How to Support SNAP Agencies in Reducing Them

There are several reasons why one state may have a higher error rate than another, and when comparing them against each other, it’s important to recognize that each state has a unique combination of systems, policies, and circumstances working for or against them. Many of these challenges states and counties are facing are not going away any time soon. Between the end of the national Public Health Emergency and Medicaid unwinding, implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, an upcoming Farm Bill, and more, states face a long road of hard work ahead. Existing State Policy Options: Prior to the pandemic, there were already several policy options and waivers that deviate from SNAP QC verification requirements and create errors due to no fault of the agency or customer. For example, at the time of eligibility determination, states may provide households the option to self-attest to their current shelter costs. However, if QC selects one of these cases to sample, they must verify the exact shelter amount. Many of these SNAP policy options have been created to help streamline the application process for households and agency staff, yet states who select to modernize their programs in these ways can be penalized through the QC process. What Consequences Do States and Counties Face for High Error Rates? There are significant repercussions for states that have high error rates. As a result, Corrective Action Plans (or CAPs), which are required for any state that has a combined error rate above 6% in a single year are top-of-mind for states right now. States also must complete a CAP if they fail to complete at least 95% of their required sample cases or have a Case and Procedural Error Rate (CAPER) above the national average. A CAPER calculation includes all possible procedural errors that happen to a case and include, but are not limited to, an untimely application denial, failure to provide a notice, and other seemingly minor issues, such as a denial letter that puts the wrong reason for denial or putting a number that is off by 50 cents in a notice. CAPs must be submitted to the USDA shortly after error rates are announced and must be worked on with their regional office consistently until the CAP is completed. Waiver Uptake: The March 2020 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) gave state agencies the authority to provide flexibilities to streamline application and recertification processes for SNAP households in order to make sure they had the benefits they needed, when they needed them. These waivers were an essential tool to preserve timely access to SNAP during the pandemic response—with all but two state agencies using waivers at one point during the pandemic. However, changing guidance from the USDA throughout 2020 and 2021, and new policies from Congress passed in late December 2020, in addition to continued changing guidance from FNS on what has been allowed, resulted in several changes to SNAP processes over the past four years. Especially early on, SNAP agencies felt an overwhelming lack of clarity as to which of these vital waivers would be extended and for how long. This resulted in states needing to constantly plan for if waivers would go away, and in certain cases they had to issue notices of changes to households in extremely short timeframes. At times, this back-and-forth left both SNAP agency staff and households confused about what was needed to retain their benefits, and ultimately resulted in errors found in benefit calculations. It’s also important to note that state agencies have all been on different timelines for the unwinding of these waivers, making it even more challenging to compare impacts across states.

THE PATH FORWARD: State and Local Policy Priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill Policy & Practice Summer 2024 32

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