Agent of Record (AOR) Important Reminder:

• Agent of Record (AOR) changes will not be accepted via a form letter or typed letter. Members requesting an AOR change must send a signed, hand-written letter to Anthem Inc., either by mail, fax or email attachment.  This process applies to Medicare Supplement, Anthem Extras and Medicare Advantage policies, including Part D.The letter must include:The letter must include:

1. The letter must include:
   1. The member’s name and policy number,
   2. The name and encrypted tax ID or agent ID of the new Agent of Record, and
   3. Must include a signature date indicated in the letter.
2. Anthem reserves the right to contact the member in order to validate all Agent of Record changes. The AOR request may be denied due to lack of confirmation.
3. For like-to-like plan changes, such as a change from a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan to a different MA Plan, Anthem will maintain the original Agent of Record associated with the new policy, even when a new agent submits the new application.
4. An exception to item #3 will be made if a member specifically requests a new AOR by submitting a signed Agent of Record letter to Anthem requesting the AOR be changed. Once Anthem confirms the request from the member, the AOR change request will be honored. Remember, form letters will not be accepted.
5. For unlike plan changes, such as a member choosing to move from a Prescription Drug Plan to an MA plan or an MA plan to a Medicare Supplement plan, the Agent of Record as indicated on the new application will be assigned as the Agent of Record for the member.

View Full AOR Article Here

Provider Network Updates:

• Agreements have been reached with no lapse in network status for the following providers:

• • Emergency Medicine Phys of Cincinnati – ER group at Mercy facilities in Cincinnati
  • Emergency Medicine Phys of Cuyahoga County – ER group at Summa Health facilities
  • Memorial Health System Marietta

Blue View Vision Network Change Effective February 1:

• National optical retail stores Sears Optical, JCPenney Optical and Stanton Optical will no longer be in our Blue View VisionSM eye care plan network beginning February 1, 2020. Clients with Blue View Vision still have access to more than 37,000 eye doctors at more than 25,000 locations nationwide. That includes local independent eye doctors, regional optical stores and national brand stores – Glasses.com, ContactsDirect, 1-800 CONTACTS, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, Eyemart Express and America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses. We’ll continue to add new providers to our vision plans throughout the year.

Medicare Supplement 6 Month Rate Guarantee:

• In several states, Medicare Supplement premiums will not change as a result of their birthday or state approved premium changes for a minimum of six months. View flyer here.
  • The premium guarantee is available to all new enrollments with policy effective dates of 01/01/2020.

View the updated Medicare Supplement Quick Reference Guide

2020 Medicare 101 presentations are NOW available:

• Educational events and one-on-one presentations are a great way to interact and build relationships with prospective members. This presentation showcases your role as a Medicare Expert and provides an easy-to-understand explanation of Medicare. The presentation is concise, compliance-approved, customizable and ideal for those events where your audience is new to Medicare.
• The updated 2020 Medicare 101 Presentations are available in the Sales Toolkit. Just look in the MA/MAPD or Med Supp sections in the Presentation folder.
• The presentation can be personalized (slide 35) with your contact information.
• NOTE: Slide 1 of the presentation includes notes that are required by compliance to be mentioned during the presentation. Be sure to delete the slide before your presentation.

Anthem YouTube:

• Anthem has two new short recordings for our “Anthem” YouTube site:

• • The link: (https://youtu.be/ypPgkjAgXo0)  will link to a 10 minute recorded review of basics of Understanding Low Income Subsidy. It helps to explain the difference between Low Income Subsidy (LIS) and Low Income Cost Sharing (LICS).
  • The link: (https://youtu.be/u_BOlokFo7w) reviews some of the advantages found in many of our plans as a result of our commitment to the Social Determinates of Health benefits program. It lasts approximately 14 minutes

Anthem’s amount of PDP applications that were written far exceeded expectations. However, with that being said, their billing partners are experiencing some backlog in the EFT queues. Here are a few helpful reminders:

• Is the EFT document going to the right place?

Some agents have been faxing in the payment option page (generally page 3) of the application along with the voided check to the new application fax number. While Billing is ecstatic that we are getting the voided check- this is not the correct protocol and could cause more member abrasion. WHY?  Sending a 1 pager to the application queue with the voided check results in INCOMPLETE APP letters generating to members because the processors are trained to look for a full application in that queue.

What should agents do?- Please send the correct EFT form and voided check via fax to 800 833 8554.

• When will the Feb drafts pull?

The draft requests go out from Anthem on the 3^rd of each month. Typically members will see drafts pulled from their accounts around the 5^th or 6^th, but this can vary based on the receiving bank or whether there is a weekend or holiday. It could be as late as the 9^th.  Remember: Anthem bills in advance (bill for Feb is sent in Jan), the drafts are pulled for the current month and any arrears. It could take up to 2 billing cycles for the draft to take effect. Members should be prepared to pay their bill if they want to avoid a double draft. Thank you for continuing to help set that expectation!

• Checking the status of an EFT set up during this backlog?

Billing is working the inventory in the order received to bring the draft requests current by the time the next scheduled draft runs. Anthem does want to be sure that billing has everything needed to get members squared away, multiple inquiries/submissions will not move these documents to the front of the line. Customer Service and Agent Services can confirm if the necessary documents are in queue and help avoid multiple submissions. The billing team will be focused on the queues vs email requests asking for status.

If you have any questions, contact your CSM service representative.