# Making Enrollment a Snap for people with disabilities with a SNAP Cross-Enrollment

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $373,961

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The proposed five-year pragmatic trial em bedded in an existing program providing SNAP cross-enrollment
outreach and enrollment assistance program among 900,000 Michigan Medicaid beneficiaries. This project will
be conducted in partnership with Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and Benefits Data Trust
and with guidance from an Advisory Committee that includes people with disabilities. The proposed study will
leverage the program's random selection of households for treatment to estimate the effect of SNAP outreach
and enrollment assistance among low-income adults with disabilities. Households are randomly selected for
either an information-only arm or an information plus assistance arm while a 3"' equivalent group waits for
treatment, forming a wait-list control by default. Medicaid data from adults aged 18 and older will be used to
identify people with disabilities, defined for this study as individuals who: (a) receive disability benefits (e.g.
SSDI, or, if younger than age 65, SSI); (b) are Medicaid eligible due to disability or blindness; (c) are eligible fa
home and community-based services or (d) are home help recipients needing assistance with Activities of
Daily Living. Outcomes will be measured using Medicaid claims and SNAP utilization data. Aim 1 characterizes
Medicaid beneficiaries at baseline with disproportionately lower SNAP utilization (participation and benefit
amounts) for people with and without disabilities and examine interactions with race/ethnicity, age, and
presence of ambulatory care-sensitive conditions. Aim 2 evaluates the impact of a cross-benefit enrollment
intervention on health care utilization, including inpatient hospital and emergency department utilization
(emergency department visits; hospitalization and length of stay; end-of-the-month utilization; and utilization for
ambulatory care-sensitive conditions) and on nursing home utilization (admission and length of stay) among
community-dwelling adults with a disability. Aim 3 evaluates the impact of a cross-benefit enrollment
intervention on SNAP utilization (participation and benefit amounts) and tests SNAP utilization as a mediator of
intervention effectiveness health care utilization among community-dwelling adults with a disability. Aim 4 tests
for effect modification of intervention impact based on race/ethnicity, age, and presence of ambulatory caresensitive
conditions, among community-dwelling adults with a disability. Through these aims, this study
evaluates a promising new intervention that may increase food access for low-income adults with disabilities.
Results from this work are urgently needed to improve food access for low-income adults with disability and
advance health equity - two critical public health priorities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10910138
- **Project number:** 5R01NR020885-02
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** BONNIELIN SWENOR
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $373,961
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-18 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10910138

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10910138, Making Enrollment a Snap for people with disabilities with a SNAP Cross-Enrollment (5R01NR020885-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-02 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10910138. Licensed CC0.

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