Summary
The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 continues the work of previous related legislation in requiring federal agencies to track and mitigate improper payments, which are defined as payments that either should not have been made or were made in an incorrect amount. FNS and the SNAP state agencies use SNAP Quality Control (QC) to closely monitor the program for improper payments. SNAP state agencies must conduct a QC review of a random sample of current cases each month (referred to as active cases) to identify underpayments and overpayments and calculate total payment error. At the end of the review period for each month's cases, the SNAP state agencies share the case files and results with federal SNAP staff, who review a subsample of the cases for accuracy and use the results to calculate an annual official payment error rate for each state agency's official payment error rate.
Request for Comments
Comments regarding this information collection received by May 9, 2024 will be considered.
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.
Need and Use of the Information
FNS is conducting a study, Understanding Risk Assessment in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Payment Accuracy, to develop a comprehensive picture of whether and how SNAP state agencies use RA tools and determine if these tools create disparate impacts on protected classes. The key research objectives follow: (1) determine which states use RA tools to reduce error rates; (2) determine what factors and variables are being used in RA tools; (3) identify how SNAP state agencies act on the results of their RA tools; (4) determine whether SNAP state agencies' RA tools are successful in reducing error rates; (5) determine if the RA tools create (or relieve) racial or other disparities by which individuals are flagged for further review; and (6) determine best practices in the development and use of RA tools.