You may be conducting a virtual sales appointment for a number of reasons. The client may live in another state, be immunocompromised, have scheduling conflicts, require accommodations, or it could simply be the most convenient option. Once you know how to conduct a compliant virtual appointment, it may become a valuable option to offer your clients and a step toward accessibility for your business.
Capturing Scope of Appointments
The Scope of Appointment form is an important precursor that you are required to complete before any sales appointment. With a Scope of Appointment, you and the client document which products you will be discussing. If, during the appointment, the client decides they would like to talk about additional products, you can document this in the moment before proceeding. The client will typically initial the paper form next to the boxes of the products to be discussed. Fortunately, you can still document every necessary piece of information in a virtual format.
You can capture a Scope of Appointment with a paper or electronic form or through a scripted voice recording that documents their consent and agreement to discuss the particular products. You can speak with your carriers to learn about their virtual Scope of Appointment options and tools, and to ask any questions.
Conducting the Presentation
Just as in an in-person appointment, CMS has strict regulations. During the appointment, you will go over the same information and outline the benefits, coverage and costs for your client to make sure that the plan products will make sense for their needs. To conduct the presentation compliantly, you can follow the checklist outlined in our Agent Medicare Compliance Guide. You can also speak with your local carrier representatives and view the agent portals to find guides for virtual sales.
Submitting Enrollments Online
One helpful component of a virtual appointment is that agents are allowed to use approval tools to help clients fill out an application. You cannot help a client fill out an application during an in-person appointment, but over the phone assistance and assistance through these approved agent enrollment tools for online enrollment are allowed.
You must submit an application the same day you receive it. To submit the enrollment online, you can use your carrier’s online enrollment tool or take advantage of our exclusive multi-carrier online enrollment tool, MedicareCenter. To learn more about our agent tools and guidance, speak with a representative at Magellan Healthcare.
