Summary
One in 12 Americans participates in the federal Food Stamp Program, administered by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). States have begun offering individuals alternatives to visiting the local assistance office to apply for and maintain benefits, such as mail-in procedures, call centers, and on-line services. GAO was asked to examine: (1) what alternative methods states are using to increase program access; (2) what is known about the results of these methods, particularly on program access for target groups, decision accuracy, and administrative costs; and (3) what actions states have taken to maintain program integrity while implementing alternative methods. GAO surveyed state food stamp administrators, reviewed five states in depth, analyzed FNS data and reports, and interviewed program officials and stakeholders.
All states use mail and about half of states use or have begun developing on-line services and call centers to provide access to the food stamp program. Almost all states allow households to submit applications, report changes, and submit recertifications through the mail, and 26 states have implemented or are developing systems for households to perform these tasks on-line. Almost half of the states are using or developing call centers and states also are allowing households to participate in telephone interviews instead of an in-office interview. States have taken a variety of actions to help households use on-line services and call centers, such as sending informational mailings, holding community meetings, and using community partners. Insufficient information is available to determine the results of using alternative methods. Few evaluations have been conducted identifying the effect of alternative methods on program access, decision accuracy, or administrative costs. Evaluating the effectiveness of alternative methods is challenging in part because limited data are available, states are using a combination of methods, and studies can be costly to conduct. Federal and state officials reported that while they believe alternative methods can help households in several ways, such as increasing flexibility and efficiency in the application process, certain types of households may have difficulty using or accessing alternative methods. In addition, technology and staffing challenges may hinder the use of alternative methods. To maintain program integrity while implementing alternative methods, the states GAO reviewed used a variety of strategies, such as using software to verify the information households submit, communicating with other states to detect fraud, or using finger imaging. Although there has been some concern that without frequent in-person interaction with caseworkers, households may not submit required documents on time and thus be denied benefits on procedural grounds ("procedural denials"), GAO's limited analysis of FNS data found no considerable fluctuations in the rate of procedural denials in the five states between fiscal years 2000 and 2005. The states GAO reviewed have instituted several approaches to prevent procedural denials.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change
from "In process" to "Implemented" or "Not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Kay E. Brown
Government Accountability Office: Education, Workforce, and Income Security
(202) 512-7003
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To improve the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) ability to assess the effectiveness of its funded efforts, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct FNS and the Economic Research Service to work together to enhance their research agendas to include projects that would complement ongoing research efforts and determine the effect of alternative methods on program access, decision accuracy, and administrative costs. Such projects would reliably identify the alternative methods that are effective and the factors that contribute to their success.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: FNS reports engaging in multiple activities with the Economic Research Service to share and coordinate research issues and priorities. Such activities include participation in the formal Economic Research Service research planning conference, sharing a panel at the annual State Food Stamp Directors meeting, participation in technical panels to review grant and contract proposals, shared study briefings, and providing inter-Agency liaisons for specific studies. Many of these activities will include discussion of Food Stamp Program modernization and its effect on costs, program access, and payment accuracy.
Recommendation: To improve USDA's ability to assess the effectiveness of its funded efforts, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct FNS to conduct analyses of data received from states implementing waivers or demonstration projects waiving the face-to-face interview and require states implementing waivers or demonstration projects to collect and report data that would facilitate such analyses. Such analyses would identify the effect of the waivers on outcomes such as payment accuracy and could help determine whether the use of the waiver should be further expanded or inform whether regulations should be changed to allow telephone interviews for all households without documenting hardship.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: FNS currently has two studies underway to examine Food Stamp modernization. One of these involves a national survey of state and local initiatives, which is currently in the field. It will be followed by a set of case studies looking at the relationship between alternative application methods, including the elimination of face-to face waivers, and a variety of outcomes. The second study will be competitively awarded in FY 2008 and will focus on identifying performance standards and reporting alternatives to assess different components of food stamp modernization. In addition, FNS has expanded the availability of waivers of the requirement to document substituting a telephone interview for a face-to face interview. Renewal of waivers of this requirement entails a review of recent State payment accuracy data.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Agriculture should help states implement alternative methods to provide access to the Food Stamp Program by directing FNS to disseminate and regularly update information on practices states are using to implement alternative access methods to the traditional application and recertification process. The information would not be merely a listing of practices attempted, but would include details on what factors or contexts seemed to make a particular practice successful and what factors may have reduced its effectiveness.
Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture
Status: In process
Comments: FNS reports actively participating in the Food Stamp Outreach Coalition subcommittee on electronic applications. In addition, FNS recently formed an all-region work group on modernization policy that will initially focus on electronic applications and sharing experiences across States.
