Note: This repository represents my personal work, done in my personal time and capacity. It is not representative of GSA (my employer at the time of publishing).
The practice of collecting the data needed to determine eligibility for individual benefits programs separately was established by the traditional paper applications each program issued. The move to digitize those applications has largely recreated this practice.
Yet we know people are frequently eligible for multiple programs designed to address different need. They need the ability to determine eligibility and apply for multiple programs all in one place, in as few steps as possible.
We've developed some methods of smoothing the process, such as presumed eligibility, aligned eligibility criteria, or data sharing to ease the burden of duplicative re-entry of data. Yet if we’re working to establish a truly intergrated eligibility experience, where a person or household can apply once and eligibility can be determined for a variety of programs, we need to sever the act of data submission and individual program applications.
Data should be entered in aggregate for all relevant programs in the most intuitive way for the applicant (See Exhibit B: Client experiences) and then used to determine individual programs behind the scenes.
- Structure aggregate data and understand which programs need what data
- Identify the services/programs applicants may need
- Collect the data needed for all relevant programs at once
- State staff review/verify data
- Use the collected data to concurrently apply to programs separately
- Determine eligibility based on each application
- Issue benefits to applicants