Benefits Journey: Applying + Enrolling
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Incremental Steps to Integrated Benefits
This guide outlines ideas for launching an integrated benefits application in stages, and strategies to pilot new tools.
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Designing for Connection: 5 Key Principles for IES Solutions That Put People First
Alluma outlines five key principles for a people-first approach to eligibility and enrollment systems.
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Bringing Social Safety Net Benefits Online: Examining online platforms for all 50 states
This visualized report is a first first-of-its-kind view of the state of benefits applications across the nation from a client perspective, including information on application availability online, combined benefit applications, application completion times, as well as login and identity proofing requirements.
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Mapping the Applicant Experience of Benefit Enrollment
Applicants to federal aid programs face numerous barriers in accessing benefits they are eligible for. The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare conducted an extensive qualitative user research study to better understand applicant experience in enrolling in public assistance programs. Based on the results, the study emphasizes the need for simplified, streamlined and less burdensome application processes.
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Maximizing Linkages: A Policymaker’s Guide to Data Sharing
Maximizing Linkages: A Policymaker’s Guide to Data Sharing
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Using Human-Centered Design to Integrate Benefit Applications
This guide illustrates how agencies can use human-centered-design practices to revise and integrate benefits applications.
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Going Big with Human-Centered Redesign
This guide provides practical insights for benefits administrators on redesigning benefits systems using human-centered design to ensure all eligible residents can access crucial social safety net resources.
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States Can Reduce Medicaid’s Administrative Burdens to Advance Health and Racial Equity
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report discusses how reducing administrative burdens in Medicaid can enhance health outcomes and promote racial equity.
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National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health
This strategy identifies ambitious and achievable actions the Biden-Harris Administration will pursue across five pillars: 1. Improving food access and affordability 2. Integrating nutrition and health 3. Empowering all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices 4. Supporting physical activity for all 5. Enhancing nutrition and food security research
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Better Data Sharing for Benefits Delivery
This policy brief outlines how improved data sharing between federal agencies, state and local governments, and institutions can leverage existing data from other benefits programs to streamline eligibility processes and benefits uptake for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) and other programs.
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Decoded: Digital Identity in Public Benefits
In 2024, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Digital Benefits Network led a workshop to explore key terms related to digital identity, and provide ecosystem-level context on how authentication and identity proofing may show up in the online benefits experience and impact clients. This resource links to the presentation slides.
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A Tsunami of Volatility: The Impact of the Design and Implementation of CARES Act Supplemental Unemployment Benefits on Lower-Income Households
This report discusses the financial resilience strategies families used to manage gaps before benefits arrived, in addition to providing recommendations for how benefits can be better designed in the future to fit the financial lives of lower-income households.