12 minutes
Running a program integrity moment through the toolkit Apply the Equity Analysis Toolkit's five stages to a realistic program integrity communication decision.
What you’ll be able to do Apply at least three of the toolkit's five stages to a program integrity scenario. Compare the responses to this question and explain your choice: Using the toolkit's stages, what should the team do before sending that notice? Document a next step for Running a program integrity moment through the toolkit: Take a real or upcoming program integrity communication and run it through the toolkit's first two stages before it goes out. The same five stages, a program integrity decision The Equity Analysis Toolkit's five stages were built for policy and budget decisions, but they apply just as directly to how a program integrity action gets communicated and carried out. Describe the decision means naming, precisely, what is actually happening: a claims review is not an accusation, a revalidation is not a service termination, and conflating them causes fear that isn't warranted by the facts. Consider who may be affected means asking whether the people connected to a provider have real alternatives, language needs, or circumstances that change what a generic notice actually does to them. Compare approaches means treating the standard, one-size-fits-all communication as one option among several, not the only option. Plan participation means building in a real way for affected people to ask questions before or as the action happens, not just after. And review and revisit means checking afterward whether the communication actually worked.
Four things a good program integrity notice says What's happening
Name the actual action in plain language — a review, a revalidation, a hold — without inflating or minimizing it.
What stays the same
Tell people clearly what is not changing right now, so they aren't left assuming the worst about services they still have.
What's still open
Be honest about what hasn't been decided yet, rather than implying more certainty than actually exists.
Who to contact
Give a real, working way to ask a question and get an answer from a person, not just a form.
The toolkit's five stages, applied to communication Describe the decision: name precisely what is happening, without inflating or minimizing it.
Consider who may be affected: alternatives, language needs, trust in institutions.
Compare approaches: treat the standard notice as one option among several, not the default.
Plan participation: build in a real way to ask questions before the action lands, not only after.
Review and revisit: check afterward whether the communication actually worked.
Run the first two stages before anything goes out What you can change You control whether a program integrity communication is checked against the toolkit's first two stages before it is sent, or only reviewed for accuracy.
What to watch for Do not treat a factually correct notice as automatically a well-designed one. Naming the decision precisely and considering who is affected are separate checks.
Your next step Add the toolkit's first two stages as a standing step before your team's next program integrity communication goes out.
Carry this forward The toolkit's five stages — describe the decision, consider who may be affected, compare approaches, plan participation, and review — apply to how a program integrity action is communicated, not only to policy decisions.
Naming a program integrity action precisely — a routine review, not an accusation — is itself an equity practice, because imprecise language causes disproportionate fear for people with fewer alternatives and less trust in institutions to begin with.
Planning how affected people can ask questions, before a notice goes out rather than only after, changes how the same necessary action lands.
A worked scenario walking through the toolkit's stages.
Take a real or upcoming program integrity communication and run it through the toolkit's first two stages before it goes out.
Browse and download only. Course notes are not typed or saved on this page.
Reset this lesson
Course overview Next lesson Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
