As an employer sponsoring an employee health plan, you have a lot of responsibilities. One of the most important is ensuring that your benefit plan enrollment process is accurate and efficient. Small gaps in the enrollment process can lead to much bigger problems, from ID cards arriving late to employees or their dependents going without coverage. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help ensure a successful enrollment.
Dump the Middleman
It’s been said that many hands make light work, but in the case of enrollments, most third parties you add to your enrollment process only serve to complicate things without easing the employer’s burden.
Some brokers may offer enrollment assistance as part of their services. This is often viewed as a helpful way for the broker to take some of the open enrollment stress off of the employer’s benefits team—but does it? In this scenario, a broker would collect information from the employer, or perhaps the employees themselves, and forward this on to the carrier. Adding this non-automated step into the process creates additional delays and more room for error, decreasing the efficiency of the process as a whole.
The final responsibility for ensuring accuracy still lies with you, the employer, so it is better that you take charge and manage the process. Not to mention, a broker won’t have access to information like payroll details, meaning they don’t have the tools to verify that everything has gone through correctly. A third party is much more likely to pass along errors because they have no way of catching them.
Consider Technology
Employers who use or are considering an online enrollment platform will be relieved to know that it’s one of the few third parties or products that actually alleviate work around enrollments. These systems have the capability to transfer benefit elections directly from the employee to the carrier, eliminating opportunities for information to slip through the cracks.
It is worth noting that, even with an online system automating the process, final responsibility around enrollments lies with the employer. So while you have automated the process—making data loss less likely—you should still double-check enrollment details against billing and your payroll system.
Plan Ahead
When it comes to your plan renewal, timeline is everything. A thoughtfully scheduled open enrollment can make a lot of difference in simplifying your enrollment efforts. Here are some things to keep in mind when you’re building your open enrollment timeline.
- Leave time for setup: Renewal options are generally presented on the carrier’s timeline, not yours—which means you’re not always in control of when final decisions are made. When scheduling an open enrollment meeting, make sure there’s plenty of time for enrollment materials and other necessary items to be completed.
- Find a good window: It’s up to you how long your open enrollment window should be. You want it to be long enough that your employees have time to make and communicate thoughtful decisions, but not so long that they put it off. Additionally, enrollment should close at least one month before the plan’s effective date to ensure that ID cards get distributed in time. For example, if your plan is effective January 1, aim to have open enrollment close by December 1.
- Gather the right materials: It can be tempting to put all of our focus on communication materials like benefit guides or presentations, but don’t forget about the enrollment forms. Unless you have an online enrollment system or similar method, you’ll need to make sure you get the latest enrollment forms from the carriers every year to make sure that enrollment details are passed along without a hitch.
- Find a process: Spend some time establishing what your process will be for collecting and conveying your employees’ benefit elections. Your process should be designed to eliminate opportunities for errors as much as possible.
Communicate with the Carrier
Whether you’re sending in paper forms, entering elections into a carrier portal, or relying on EDI file feeds from an online platform, it’s always a good idea to keep in touch with the carrier. Let them know when all the information has been delivered, and get confirmation that the details have been received in the time frame they’ve indicated. Once they let you know that the enrollments have been processed, it’s time to double-check that the enrollments are correct. If you do find any errors or have any questions, never hesitate to contact the carrier about it.
