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Beyond compliance: H.R.1’s impact on benefits delivery
Presented by
Google Cloud
Presented by
Google Cloud
H.R. 1 imposes strict compliance requirements and financial penalties for the mismanagement of SNAP programs.
State agencies are grappling with significant changes to how the federal government approaches benefits administration. H.R. 1 introduces severe financial penalties for State SNAP programs with a payment error rate exceeding 6%.
Only nine states and one U.S. territory meet this requirement.
States must work toward reducing their payment error rate. However, relying on traditional methods, such as hiring additional staff to patch legacy systems, is not enough — agency leadership must invest in unified, AI-empowered platforms to meet the rigorous demands set forth by this administration.
In Accelerating H.R. 1 Compliance with Google’s Gemini for Government, Google for Government’s National Health and Human Services (HHS) Lead, Melissa Hensley, spoke with Google for Government’s HHS Industry Architect, Gabby Burke, about how Gemini could help local leaders address improper payments.
Addressing the root cause of payment errors
H.R. 1 is an opportunity to address outdated processes and fragmented systems. As agencies look to address compliance requirements, a closer look at legacy systems could reveal how payment error rates and legacy tech are interconnected.
Legacy platforms allow for simple errors or omissions to slip through the system, as Hensley explained.
“It’s misreporting income, data entry errors and failing to update household changes. These are process and system failures, and the penalty isn’t just financial — it’s also reputational,” she said. “The good news is that by solving the compliance challenge, we can also reimagine how we empower citizens.”
Google Public Sector helps agencies not only meet these compliance mandates but modernize through them by offering first-party solutions across the AI stack.
Using Google Gemini as a test case, here are three ways your agency could leverage AI to reduce improper payments and improve service delivery capabilities:
● Intake perfected: Build easier, mobile-first experiences that meet citizens where they are.
● Caseworkers empowered: Equip staff with the tools needed to review, verify and communicate information to beneficiaries.
● Analytics accelerated: Get in-depth insight into why, where and when payment errors occur and leverage predictive analytics to identify and address potential issues before they happen.
Reimagining service delivery with AI-enabled platforms
Legacy systems exacerbate many of the problems agencies face. For that very reason, a holistic approach is vital if agencies are to build secure, repeatable frameworks.
“It’s not about cobbling different things together to see if we can make something work; it’s about providing a unified platform,” said Burke.
For citizens, this translates into a seamless, user-friendly experience that replaces complex web pages and paper forms. A SNAP enrollee, for instance, could validate or renew their participation through a simple chatbot conversation.
The enrollee could answer the chatbot’s questions out of order, partially or not at all, and the agent would be able to capture this information. Caseworkers would then be able to review an AI-generated summary, or click in to learn more about the specific details of a request — ensuring greater efficiency and accuracy during review.
“We’re trying to equip staff with the tools they need right at their fingertips, which makes it easier for them to do these interviews and make these decisions,” said Burke. “The AI agent, it suggests some questions the caseworker might want to consider or asks when meeting with the client and as you can see, it provides a cited answer directly from the SNAP interview handbook.”
H.R. 1: A catalyst for change
While H.R. 1 introduces significant policy change, the mandate is ultimately an opportunity for State agencies to move beyond incremental fixes and embrace true digital transformation.
According to a recent StateScoop article, this perspective has grown in popularity, with one unnamed leader saying: “We’re trying to treat this not just as a compliance exercise, but as a modernization moment.”
As state leaders work toward this point, trusted partners will be there to help organizations reduce payment error rates.
“Let’s stop managing complexity and start transforming,” said Hensley. “We start by tackling the root cause of error rates. We empower caseworkers and help them collect comprehensive, accurate information the first time. And then with the power of Google’s data and analytics suite, we can flag high-risk cases, pull them upstream and intervene earlier to drive payment error rates down.”
This content is made possible by our sponsor Google; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Route Fiftys editorial staff.
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