This post is part of a series sponsored by AgentSync.
How to efficiently and effectively scale your insurance organization beyond AEP
“Tis the season!” That means Medicare open enrollment season. It’s once again time for Medicare beneficiaries to find the Medicare Advantage plan that best fits their needs. For insurers, agents, and MGAs/MGUs, the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) helps organizations adjust operational efficiencies and ensure their organizations are agile enough to handle increased business without sacrificing the producer experience. It’s time to prove that you are there.
Insurance industry faces additional pressure during Medicare open offer period
Enroll in Medicare Advantage The number of beneficiaries will increase by more than 2 million people from 2023 to 2024, with an estimated 32.8 million eligible people currently enrolled in some type of plan.
Over the next few months, many people will be looking to their insurance agents for assistance in understanding the ins and outs of Medicare plans and navigating the enrollment process. Insurers are required to recruit and appoint enough producers to handle the increased workload during this period. Is your organization agile enough to weather this temporary expansion smoothly? Or will the influx of growers mean you’ll struggle to stay above water?
For those who aren’t ready, Medicare’s open enrollment season means:
Rising management costs
Recruiting, onboarding, managing, and offboarding additional producers during Medicare open enrollment increases the workload of existing staff tenfold. If your current operations are not set up to scale efficiently, you may want to pay existing staff to work more hours or hire more administrative staff to take on additional work. You can either pay for it. Without the ability to scale operations quickly and efficiently, open enrollment can become a real loss to an organization’s bottom line.
Increased compliance risk
More producers mean more licenses that need to be verified and tracked. Traditionally, producer onboarding and offboarding (and everything in between) has numerous regulatory requirements for each state in which the producer sells, and Medicare open enrollment is no exception.
In fact, agents and brokers responsible for enrolling individuals into Medicare Advantage plans must adhere to even more stringent regulatory standards, such as those set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In April 2024, CMS introduced changes to the rules it sets for Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, and Part D insurers and agents. published Complete breakdown of rule changes and their impactbut here are just a few of the changes insurance organizations can expect in this year’s AEP.
- Changes to Medicare billing requirements: Medicare’s 2024 final rule tightens several billing requirements. As a result, carriers can expect more aggressive coverage disclosure requirements. CMS also expanded its ability to recover overpayments, so carriers and agents are likely to face further pushback on their claims.
- Timely access and prior approval: Although the new preclearance rules will not be fully implemented until 2026, proactive airlines are already taking steps to introduce greater uniformity and transparency into their operations. Changes include faster delivery times, more detailed instructions to consumers, and API Enable a more automated and streamlined pre-approval process.
- Marketing protection: As regulations around advertising and marketing development for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans tighten, carriers are increasing their advertising compliance reviews and requiring producers to submit more documentation for review.
unhappy producer
Even the slightest degradation in system performance can cause significant delays in producer onboarding. Slow and inefficient onboarding increases the wait time for producers to be able to sell. Producers suffer when the systems that organizations rely on to manage distribution cannot scale without disruption.
Remember, Medicare open enrollment happens every year. This means that the experience you give growers this year will influence their decision to work with you again next time. If the producer experience across your organization is inefficient, slow, and messy during this year’s AEP, there’s a good chance your producers won’t come back and spend even more time, money, and resources recruiting next year. You’re going to have to spend a lot of money. .
Without a proactive and agile distribution channel management strategy, these outcomes are all but guaranteed for insurers, agents, and MGAs/MGUs navigating the annual Medicare enrollment season. But AEP is not the only company that can benefit from responding to changes in the number of producers. Consider how well your current system can handle:
- Onboarding hundreds of emergency adjusters after natural disasters
- Involved in a merger or acquisition
- Rapid market expansion or entry into new areas
Best Practices for a Successful Medicare Open Enrollment Season
Medicare open enrollment season is definitely a busy time for the industry, as millions of seniors and people with disabilities seek support. When used well, AEP can demonstrate how efficient and scaled an organization’s operations are. But without the proper preparation and tools, it can quickly become stressful and expensive. Follow these best practices to set yourself up for success during Medicare Open Enrollment.
1. Prepare your staff in advance with adequate training and resources.
Enrolling in Medicare can be a confusing time for beneficiaries. It comes as no surprise to research the different options, understand the changes and nuances, and browse the federal government’s website. So many people don’t change their plans during this time.
Knowledgeable producers are essential to a successful carrier Medicare open enrollment season. Well in advance of the AEP, we recommend providing educational materials and resources to help producers (and their beneficiaries) become familiar with the various Medicare plans and their benefits. Also, don’t forget to include the 2024 CMS rule changes and how they impact your logistics force in your training.
2. Tailor your onboarding process to deliver a first-class producer experience
Set your AEP up for success this year and beyond by establishing a positive and enjoyable producer experience and working relationship from the start. Continuing to rely on each producer to manage their own data during onboarding creates inefficiencies for your business and increases compliance risk. This slows growers’ preparation for sale and adds to frustration.
Then, use automated solutions to automatically capture and process producer data, removing time-consuming manual work from distribution partner plates and ensuring data is always complete, accurate, and accessible. Let’s consider the benefits of doing so. Building a more efficient and positive experience increases loyalty and encourages producers to partner with you again year after year.
3. Prioritize flexible systems and automated solutions that facilitate scalability
If increasing NPN negatively impacts system performance, effectively operating AEP becomes difficult to say the least. A more flexible system allows you to quickly adapt to an influx of producers with little or no disruption to your business, turning this challenge into an opportunity.
By investing in software that maintains operational integrity as you scale without it Adding additional overhead allows you to optimize your distribution process to accommodate seasonal cycles such as Medicare open enrollment, as well as other changes your organization may face in the future.
The most successful organizations stay ahead of the curve by investing in technology that integrates with existing systems and can scale up (and down) to changing market demands and conditions without losing value. Continuing.
Is your distribution channel strategy compatible with Medicare open enrollment?
Or, more importantly, can open enrollment be handled without compromising compliance, inflating administrative costs, or negatively impacting the producer experience? If the answer is no, consider updating your distribution channel management strategy to include a more modern and scalable solution.
Kill Medicare’s open enrollment season and turn your distribution network into an asset that drives growth, rather than a bottleneck that hinders growth with AgentSync. Whether you need to streamline your onboarding process, strengthen your compliance efforts, or strengthen your business operations for future growth, we’ve got you covered. Talk to an AgentSync expert Start transforming your distribution channel management strategy today.
