DCHS Insights CX Human-Centered Design @ DCHS PROTOTYPE no real data

A benefit decision establishes whether SNAP or Medicaid continues. A needs screen shows what the change is doing in a client's life and where another response may be useful.

Screening can identify when food is running short, treatment or medication is becoming harder to maintain, transportation is blocking follow-through, or another basic need has become urgent. It can also surface interest in employment, training, child care, or treatment when those pathways fit the client's goals and an appropriate service is available.

The most useful questions are the ones paired with a credible response. Their order will depend on local service capacity, client experience, privacy and safety protocols, and any requirements for administering the standardized instrument. The sequence below is therefore a first prototype to refine, not a prescribed final order.

This starting sequence puts the most time-sensitive consequences first and then broadens as DCHS has reliable ways to respond.

Immediate food, safety, and housing risks come first. The next group helps protect continuity of care and day-to-day stability. A third group can open employment, training, child-care, or treatment pathways when the client wants that help. Broader health context follows once the more direct responses are working reliably. This order reflects how quickly an answer can lead to useful action, not the relative importance of one need over another; urgent concerns still follow established safety and clinical protocols.

Interpreting an answer also requires a small amount of context: which benefit is changing, when the change takes effect, what help the client wants, and what language or access support is needed. Existing notices and case records should supply that context whenever possible. An offered resource should remain distinct from successful contact and help actually received, so a promising referral is not mistaken for a completed response.

Review the question-by-question prototype → Compare with the full instrument →

A useful sequence balances urgency, available responses, the integrity of the screening tool, and what clients and frontline staff learn through use.

• Which questions can lead to useful help now?

  Consider current program capacity, eligibility boundaries, response times, and whether someone can own the next step. A question may need to move later if DCHS cannot yet offer a credible response.

• Which questions should remain together?

  Identify the questions that belong to a standardized module or an established safety or clinical protocol. Their integrity may matter more than the draft order shown here.

• What would clients and frontline staff change?

  Use their experience to test whether the language, timing, order, and proposed response make sense during a stressful benefit transition.

• What would justify changing the order?

  Look for immediate risk, the number of affected clients, unequal completion or outcomes, repeated unmet needs, privacy concerns, and evidence that referrals are reaching—or failing to reach—services.

Policy context checked September 3, 2026. Recheck current state and federal guidance before fielding the workflow.