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- Janet on What Sequestration Could Mean to Medicare Advantage Claims Payment
- Kristina on What Sequestration Could Mean to Medicare Advantage Claims Payment
- Curt Black on What Sequestration Could Mean to Medicare Advantage Claims Payment
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- Jane Wall Medicare Health Benefits Inc on Strange Bedfellows Come to Medicare Advantage’s Rescue
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Topic: Sales & Marketing
Exchanges: Sales Agent Certification
CMS has released a notice seeking comments on their plans for training and certifying sales agents who could enroll persons into the federally facilitated exchanges. To be exact, the notice is about collection of data about the sales agents who are trained and certified for selling coverage offered by qualified health plans on the exchange. It just so happens that the vehicle for doing the collection is the training and certification program that is mandated by the law and the final regulations published last March. So, CMS does not want comments about the requirement to be trained and certified but they do want comments about what information is collected and maintained about individual sales agents.
Some Scary Medicare News in the CBO Report
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its new economic outlook yesterday with some interesting predictions on the launch of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces (exchanges). But it was some of its Medicare findings that blew my hair back last night: Read more
250,000 Agents in the Federal Exchanges???
In a Federal Register notice out yesterday CMS officials are projecting 254,095 health insurance agents and brokers will sign up to sell the “metal plans” in the new federal health insurance exchange (HIX) system. Quarter. Million. Agents. OMG. And the scary part: they face a fraction of the regulatory requirements Medicare sales agents do.
The Claws Will Come Out at CMS in 2013
Health plans and other stakeholders in Medicare Advantage and Part D can be assured of one thing by President Obama’s reelection: that the claws will come out at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in his second term.
Customer Service Week
As it is Customer Service Week and many companies across the country are celebrating the unsung heroes who answer calls and solve problems all day, this seemed like a good time to talk about the pitfalls and problems which can plague customer service centers. We have all had experience with customer service call centers at some point in our daily lives. Some positive, some not so much! Here are a few common issues which can occur in any call center – health care or automotive supplies:
Selling Season is Nearly Here, Now what?
Most plans are in the process of onboarding their agents and preparing them to sell. Meanwhile, they’ve invested marketing dollars across various channels and different media. Now it’s time to turn marketing dollars into members. With another AEP just around the corner, here are a few GHG best practice tips to keep in mind this season to help get the most bang for your buck out of those incoming leads. Read more
Sales Oversight & Thoughts on CMS Updated Agent Training Guidelines
As you likely noticed, CMS recently released its updated Guidelines for Agent Broker Training and Testing for CY 2013 on August 21. Our in-house compliance experts have cross-walked the new regulations with the old ones from last year and here’s our take: for the most part, the updated guidelines should be business as usual. However, it is interesting to take note of where CMS is going to greater lengths to provide additional clarity or requirements.
