means testing beneficiaries - a new approach?

hi all

I work at an animal welfare charity and one of our service offerings is providing contribution based vet care for those who cant afford private vet fees. We assess eligibility for our services using the means-tested benefit system which usually involves a client showing us their benefit award letter before they can receive treatment for their pet. As you can imagine this can be quite time consuming on an admin side of things but also, be a further barrier for clients to access the support they need particularly at a time of need.

We're currently looking at new ways of providing veterinary advice and care, particularly as the possibility of tele-medicine in the vet world becomes more of a reality. My question is around whether anyone with a similar means-test for their services has introduced a simple and ideally digital way to carry out these assessments?

Advice/ideas greatly appreciated.

Rich