Although there is overlap in income-related eligibility requirements among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP) and Medicaid programs, these programs experience barriers to sharing data to streamline enrollment processes. Improved data sharing could benefit both consumers as well as Medicaid agencies and SNAP by simplifying enrollment and administrative processes. By sharing data, SNAP and Medicaid programs have the potential to facilitate eligibility determinations and enable targeted outreach and more efficient enrollment to each respective program.

With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) is partnering with Benefits Data Trust (BDT) to discover and spread best practices for data coordination between Medicaid agencies and SNAP. The Improving Data Coordination Between SNAP and Medicaid project aims to:

• Improve understanding of data sharing and coordination between SNAP and Medicaid agencies;
• Explore how data sharing can benefit each respective program and their enrollees; and
• Provide actionable recommendations, tools, and technical assistance to agencies navigating data-sharing and coordination issues.

Project Activities

Over two years, the project is documenting data coordination practices, identifying best practices, and sharing practical strategies broadly to inform opportunities for state Medicaid and SNAP collaboration. BDT and CHCS are partnering to:

• Conduct a nationwide survey of state SNAP administrators, Medicaid eligibility directors, and a sampling of county agency directors to understand current data coordination efforts and challenges;
• Create in-depth case studies to share innovative data-sharing initiatives implemented in select states; and
• Provide technical assistance to support states in adopting Medicaid-SNAP data coordination and alignment solutions.