State of Missouri Taps Tech to Modernize Benefits Applications for the Future of Work

Ambitious new initiative leverages consent-based platform from SteadyIQ to help state agencies streamline income verification after successful pilot program

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Jan. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) today announced an ambitious new initiative designed to streamline the often time-consuming process of income verification, a critical step in enabling access to safety net benefits like Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF. Today's announcement builds on the success of a pilot program, concluded late 2023, which utilized consumer friendly 'consent-based' verification to generate a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of an individual's total earnings.

"Income verification is a mission critical step in the process of determining benefits eligibility. But for the growing number of workers who earn income from multiple sources, the process can be unnecessarily cumbersome and paperwork intensive," said Melissa D. Wolf, Deputy Director of the Family Support Division at the State of Missouri's Department of Social Services. "This is about modernizing the process using proven technology. It's about boosting access and also improving the efficiency of our staff and accuracy of our programs in Missouri."

At a time when federal and state policymakers alike are focused on increasing government efficiency, SteadyIQ is working with government agencies across the country to streamline benefits administration and reduce fraud. Traditional methods of verifying income rely on databases that pull information on behalf of an applicant, a process that is opaque and limited in coverage to established data partnerships. SteadyIQ's technology puts applicants in the driver's seat, enabling them to review and share up-to-date income information. The result is a user-directed and permissioned solution that allows applicants to seamlessly provide proof of income, clearing a significant hurdle in the process to apply for public benefits.

"New technologies have a crucial role to play in updating state benefits infrastructure for the 21st century, in ways that both improve processes and reduce fraud risk," said Kim Evans, Division Director of the Family Support Division. "What sets SteadyIQ apart is their deep understanding of state benefits systems, and their commitment to creating a tailor-made solution that solves our agency's most pressing income verification challenges."

This new partnership draws on the success of a 2023 pilot program focused on verifying income for 1099 earners. Without a traditional paystub to rely on, these workers are often unable to accurately or efficiently prove their current earnings. During the pilot, Income Passport users were able to submit their income verification in under twenty minutes and received their benefits approximately 4 days earlier. The use of SteadyIQ's platform also dramatically reduced application churn and rejections due to incomplete files, further speeding up the process for both applicants – and agency staff.

"The State of Missouri is harnessing the potential of technology to grow its economy by supporting the workers that are the backbone of the modern labor market," said James Haberlen, Chief Commercial Officer of SteadyIQ. "We are humbled by the opportunity to collaborate with the state to build a model that can create greater efficiency for agency staff, eliminate fraud, and enable qualified workers and families to receive a faster benefits determination. Missouri is laying the foundation for an entirely new approach to income verification for public benefits agencies nationwide."

For more information on SteadyIQs work with state governments across the country, please visit www.steadyiq.com. 

About SteadyIQ

SteadyIQ is at the forefront of a technology revolution in public benefits delivery. Our proprietary platform, Income Passport, is a consent-based income verification solution that makes submitting proof of earnings more accessible, efficient, and effortless. Leveraging the power of user-permissioned data, SteadyIQ works with government agencies across the country to streamline benefit applications, reduce administrative burden, and prevent fraud.

SOURCE SteadyIQ