Federal Communications Commission present on how state and local agencies can legally use SMS messaging to engage with public benefits applicants and recipients, including compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
A research snapshot summarizing early findings from outreach and discovery work to identify high-impact opportunities for improving public benefits delivery, with an initial focus on notifications.
This guide is intended to provide a general overview of the national statutory and regulatory landscape governing the legality of sending large volumes of text messages and sharing client information.
Ruling from the FCC granting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to confirm that federal and state governmental agencies working in conjunction with local governments, governmental contractors, and managed care entities acting under contract with state governments may, under certain circumstances, make autodialed and prerecorded or artificial voice calls or send autodialed text messages to raise awareness of the eligibility and enrollment requirements for these governmental health care programs without violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
A practical guide for government teams on how to design, test, and run effective public text message campaigns for benefits and service communications.
This guidebook aims to equip state and local agencies with the practical insights they need to develop a text messaging outreach program for SNAP recertification.
The Texting Playbook provides guidance and well-researched strategies to help state agencies implement texting in support of Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, and other benefits programs. It provides an overview of how to start texting clients; the types of messages to send, including real examples; Federal Communications Commision (FCC) policy guidance; how to encourage opt-ins and collect consent; how to avoid coming across as spam; and a cost analysis of texting.
The article discusses how state agencies can effectively use text messaging to communicate with Medicaid and SNAP enrollees, especially following a 2021 FCC ruling that permits automated texts for informational purposes.
Code for America offers government agencies a general overview of getting started with implementing text messaging services for clear, responsive communication during the COVID-19 pandemic.
