Marylanders seeking help paying for food, health care and other necessities will have a smoother process in applying for government benefits.

State officials have upgraded the application website, now simply called “Maryland Benefits” and available at marylandbenefits.gov.

The goal, officials said Tuesday, is to remove barriers to getting aid. The new website is intuitive, fast and eliminates the need for people to repeatedly share their personal and financial information with authorities, they said.

Gov. Wes Moore said that government agencies often have a painful directive for people seeking benefits: “Tell us about your poverty over and over and over again.”

The “one app” on the Maryland Benefits website allows users to enter their financial information just once. And while an individual may think they only are eligible for one program, the website will match them with other programs that they’re likely also eligible for, Moore said as he announced the new website at an event in Prince George’s County.

“This application means fewer forms, fewer trips, faster service, more support for families that need it most when they need it most,” said Moore, a Democrat.

The upgrade builds on an earlier improvement made late last year, when the state launched an online screening tool to help Marylanders determine whether they’re eligible for benefits. But they then still had to fill out multiple online forms to sign up for the different programs.

Now, it’s an all-in-one process, no matter which benefits a Marylander is hoping to sign up for: food, cash, energy assistance and portions of the Medicaid health insurance program.

The website is offered in English and in Spanish and works both on a phone and on a computer.

Key to making the new website work was moving the technical elements to the state’s information technology department, after previously being housed in the human services department, said Katie Savage, the state’s information technology secretary. This allows the IT experts to work on “behind-the-scenes boring stuff” and the benefits experts — at the departments of human services and health — to focus on the actual programs, she said.

The new application website was quietly posted two weeks ago, and already more than 22,000 Marylanders have used it to apply for benefits, officials said. The time was cut down from 80 minutes to apply just for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to 28 minutes to apply for all programs.

“This is such important progress toward giving people access to the services they need and deserve more readily and easily,” said Dr. Meena Seshamani, the state health secretary.

Seshamani said that the new application includes Medicaid enrollment for older adults and people with disabilities; they hope to soon add Medicaid enrollment for people with low incomes and for those who are in long-term care.

Rafael López, the state secretary of human services, who spoke in both English and Spanish at the launch event, said the improvements enhance the “respect and dignity for the people we serve.”