Food Stamp Certification Periods and Payment Accuracy: State Experience During 1997-2001
by Gregory Mills, Don Laliberty, Christopher Rodger, and
J. William Levedahl
Electronic Publications from the Food Assistance & Nutrition Research Program No. (EFAN-04012) 210 pp, November 2004
Quality control (QC) reviews of Food Stamp Program (FSP) cases show that error rates across States range from less than 5 percent to more than 25 percent when both overpayment and underpayment error are combined. This study uses QC data for 1997-2001 and a Markov probability framework to characterize year-to-year national and State error rates into variations due to errors occurring with first-month cases (those approved at initial certification); ongoing cases (those subject to the interim action process); and expiring cases (those subject to the recertification process). This information can be used in planning corrective actions by focusing attention on phases of the administrative process that are more responsible for errors. This study also explores the effect on payment accuracy and FSP participation of more frequent recertification of food stamp cases. A motivating concern is that the use of short certification periods (3 months or less) as a strategy to reduce case error may unintentionally reduce program participation.
Keywords: Food Stamp Program, FSP, quality control, program operations and integrity, Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program, FANRP
In this publication...
-
Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents, Executive Summary, Pdf file 137 kb
-
Chapter One: Background and Objectives, Pdf file 105 kb
-
Chapter Two: Modeling Program Participation and Error, Pdf file 94 kb
-
Chapter Three: Deriving the Transition Matrix, Pdf file 232 kb
-
Chapter Four: National Trends in Program Participation and Error Rates, Pdf file 223 kb
-
Chapter Five: State-by-State Error Patterns, Pdf file 352 kb
-
Chapter Six: Effects of More Frequent Recertification, Pdf file 58 kb
-
Bibliography, Pdf file 22 kb
-
Appendix A: Distribution of Food Stamp Households by Length of Certification Period, Pdf file 67 kb
-
Appendix B: Procedures For Deriving The Transition Matrix, Pdf file 163 kb
-
Appendix C: National Estimates of Cell Counts and Transition Probabilities, Pdf file 90 kb
-
Appendix D: State-by-State Estimates of Cell Counts and Transition Probabilities, Pdf file 287 kb
-
Appendix E: Discrete Time Markov Chains, Pdf file 233 kb
-
Entire report, Pdf file 2,056 kb
Need help with PDFs?
