ATLANTA — New documents show staffing issues as the primary reason Georgia is not meeting federal requirements and processing SNAP applications on time.
11Alive previously reported that the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS) has been missing federal deadlines, which require SNAP benefits to be issued to eligible recipients within 30 days of an application in most cases. In a November 21 letter from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to DHS Commissioner Candice Broce, federal regulators reported the state is "severely out of compliance with Federal requirements” and must submit a corrective action plan within 30 days to show how the department will improve.
11Alive obtained a copy of that plan on Thursday. The plan lays out two "root causes" that contributed to the delays in application processing times, specifically pointing to staffing issues as the department juggles both a backlog of SNAP cases as well as the Medicaid redetermination process.
“For the past months, the State Agency has been focused on completing a backlog of Renewals,” the action plan states, showing that 200 veteran staff have been moved from completing applications to completing renewals as a result. “Because of that move, Applications Processing Timeliness has gone below 95%."
While the USDA’s original letter cited a 84.9% application processing timeliness (APT) rate from January 2023 - June 2023, more recent data obtained by 11Alive shows the state’s rate continued to drop since that time. The APT hit a 6-month low in October at 72.31% (the latest month for which data is available).
The USDA told 11Alive such delays are "unacceptable" - its letter to Georgia DHS stating the problems created "a hardship to needy households across Georgia."
But it’s not just the backlog of SNAP renewals that has strained state caseworkers. The corrective action plan also shows that while 1,182 new staff were hired since Jan. 1, 2023, the agency’s focus on Medicaid re-determination also meant new staff were trained in Medicaid first.
“Newly hired staff became proficient in Medicaid and were unable to assist in processing SNAP cases until they were trained,” the corrective action plan states.
When 11Alive followed up with the Georgia Department of Human Services asking how many new caseworkers are trained in SNAP versus Medicaid, a DHS spokesperson said it will take time to pull such data, but the agency's training policy normally entails a new worker focusing on one program for the first six months before they're trained in a second benefit program.
“The goal is to have every new worker working in two programs by the time they’ve been with our team for one year," the spokesperson stated.
To improve its SNAP numbers, the agency is now promising the USDA it will switch that strategy. As of Dec. 23, per the plan, new staff will complete SNAP training first and “be ready to process cases immediately.” Georgia DHS will also submit monthly reports to the USDA to monitor improvements.
Georgia SNAP delays & Medicaid unwinding
The USDA’s directive to Georgia DHS comes as the same department is also dealing with pressure from the federal government regarding Medicaid redetermination.
Earlier this month, data released from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) showed Georgia ranks third in the nation for the total number of children who have been dropped from Medicaid during redetermination, a process all states much complete.
In a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote in part, "Because all children deserve to have access to comprehensive health coverage, I urge you to ensure that no child in your state who still meets eligibility criteria for Medicaid or CHIP loses their health coverage due to 'red tape' or other avoidable reasons as all states 'unwind' from the Medicaid continuous enrollment provision that was in place during much of the COVID-19 public health emergency."
On the same day as that letter’s release, the state announced a $54 million short-term “surge” effort to support the redetermination process. Such funding, the release stated, would be utilized to add “contracted staffing, process improvement, and financial support to state eligibility workers.”
More help for SNAP?
Unlike Medicaid, federal regulations don’t allow for contract workers to work on SNAP, but 11Alive did ask whether additional funding would be used to help with the backlog of SNAP cases given the shared concerns about call center and caseworker communication.
“This allocation is specifically for Medicaid, but several key elements of the surge effort – staff augmentation, overtime, and process improvement – will also benefit SNAP,” a spokesperson told 11Alive in response.
“The agency continues to prioritize increasing the number of SNAP-trained staff in our workforce to process SNAP cases and is focused on retention efforts to ensure we keep these employees,” the spokesperson said.
While the department has previously utilized overtime and staff stipends to address the backlog, in addition to donating $2.8 million to Atlanta Community Food Bank, advocates question whether SNAP issues are going under the radar compared to the Medicaid unwinding.
“There were millions of people who were able to get Medicaid for the first time, and now their eligibility has to be reconsidered and that is a huge, massive undertaking,” Ife Finch Floyd, Director of Economic Justice at the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, explained. “So what's been happening on the SNAP side, I think has not gotten enough attention.”
“But here's the thing that's really important to keep in mind,” she continued. “A lot of these are the same individuals in the same families that could be at risk of losing critical supports, not because they're ineligible, but because of kind of procedural reasons.”
“It's just a huge, huge issue,” Finch Floyd said. “We have to make sure that we're bringing kind of both of these pieces together.”
11Alive has asked Governor Brian Kemp's office for a response on the ongoing SNAP delays and whether additional funding would be allocated in the upcoming fiscal year. The governor's press secretary has repeatedly referred questions back to DHS.
Viewers who want to speak with a reporter about the delays can email the newsroom or access a running list of resources for families.