Mastering Data Management

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Cross-agency data sharing can help detect situations in which people are receiving benefits for which they aren't eligible.

Once registry-based MDM solutions relying on probabilistic matching are in place at multiple agencies, accurate data can be shared between agencies, which have the potential to provide additional benefits to both agencies and citizens.

Cross-agency data sharing can help detect situations in which people are receiving benefits from multiple agencies when they should only be receiving benefits from one.

An example would be when a person is receiving temporary assistance for needy families or other state-based cash benefits on behalf of the same dependent child from two states at once. This situation is sometimes encountered in states where there are two cities near state lines, which makes it easy for people to register and receive benefits in both states.

These types of errors or improper payments would not be detected with data from a single agency, but could be identified when data is shared between agencies and accurately identified as belonging to the same person.

In addition, cross-agency data sharing could help identify situations where people should be receiving benefits but aren’t because they did not realize they were entitled to them.

If data is shared across agencies, when someone registers for Medicaid, for example, the agency would be able to view whether that person is receiving food stamps or other benefits provided to low-income individuals. The agency could then inform the applicants that they are likely to qualify for these additional benefits.

Optimized Data Saves Tax Dollars

The pressure to consolidate programs, reduce duplication and streamline processes is only going to get stronger for government officials, as will the public demand for direct and easy access to government programs and information.

The good news is that data quality can be improved to help agencies better use and manage citizen data to meet a host of missions. MDM solutions can help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and still properly safeguard the public’s personal information.

By using MDM to provide accurate, real-time identification and validation of citizen data at multiple touchpoints, government organizations will gain more confidence in the accuracy of its citizen data.

This will result in a bevy of benefits for a variety of federal, state and local programs in areas such as health and benefits administration, law enforcement, homeland security, and defense and intelligence.