Open enrollment has arrived and brokers should be in high gear, prepared to help clients whenever necessary. It’s a hectic time of year for employers and employees as well, so it’s important to do everything you can to ensure it runs smoothly. Follow this checklist throughout open enrollment so you don’t miss a single detail.
Anticipate and Tackle Compliance Concerns
Brokers are responsible for keeping their clients compliant with all legal and regulatory requirements. Always stay up-to-date with any recent healthcare reform changes, and keep an eye on future trends as well. Plan ahead to streamline compliance by automating ACA and COBRA management. Prepare yourself for any possible future regulatory challenges so you can handle them smoothly.
Ensure Clients Have All Necessary Enrollment Materials
This includes an open enrollment schedule with deadlines, plan specific summaries, rates and changes, and any other educational materials clients may need. Hold meetings with your clients’ HR personnel to help them become well versed with the materials so they can help educate employees.
These resources should be distributed in different forms to appeal to the learning styles of different types of employees. Flyers, pamphlets, emails, apps, webinars, and social media platforms can all be effective mediums to distribute essential information.
Pinpoint and Assess Issues
Continuously communicate with clients regarding any issues that their employees might be having. This also includes challenges from recent years’ open enrollment as well—take their feedback and utilize it to adjust and improve any pain points.
Help Educate Employees and Their Spouses
Offer off-hours webinars to give clients’ employees and their family members the education they may need regarding open enrollment and their benefits options. Try to lay out their options clearly and concisely, and be prepared to answer follow-up questions. This type of education doesn’t have to end when open enrollment ends, so plan to hold webinars throughout the year, if needed.
Provide Ongoing Support
As open enrollment progresses and comes to a close, continue to provide resources and materials to keep your clients in the know. Take note of any major successes and failures throughout open enrollment, and begin to consider how to capitalize on or avoid them in the future.
Start creating a plan for open enrollment education while the process is still fresh in your mind. Ask for and assess clients’ feedback to help you improve processes moving forward.
Open enrollment can be a tricky time for everyone, but if you’re prepared and have the right materials, you’ll ace it. Visit Clarity Benefit Solutions to learn more about how we can help open enrollment run as smoothly as possible.
Sources:
https://www.thehortongroup.com/annual-open-enrollment-checklist
