Telephonic Selling Tips

Learn about coronavirus at an online Q&A

With information on the current pandemic changing so quickly, feel free to encourage your prospects and members to join us for a free online Q&A about coronavirus with Dr. Lindsay Carter on Friday, March 27 at 1:30pm ET.

What Devoted Health is doing for members

The health of our members is our number-one priority. To keep them safe and healthy, we’ve taken the following actions.

• Outreach to at-risk members: We’re calling all at-risk members to answer their questions and make sure they’re prepared and safe at home. 
• COVID-19 clinical hotline for our front-line staff: If a member is expressing clinical concerns or symptoms, they’ll be transferred to a nurse.
• Frequent text updates: SMS has 80% penetration of our members. We text important updates, like telling them that their provider offers telehealth.
• Waived copays for telehealth services for our solution and our provider partners’ solutions
• Weekly live Q&A webinars, led by our Medical Director and other experts
• Community resource support: We’re gathering important information about things like about how to get groceries and adding it (and other COVID-19 tips and news) to our website.

Telephonic enrollment tools

As you transition away to telephonic appointments, we’ve updated our electronic enrollment system/process to ensure you’re fully compliant when selling over the phone. 

• SOAs can now be completed within the online application through email (preferred) or over the phone via a 3-way call into our agent support line and the prospect.
• After receiving your submitted online application, we’ll call the prospect/POA to get a verbal enrollment attestation on a recorded line.

The full process:

• In the online application, Broker creates profile for prospect, collects SOA (in-app through email or calls into Devoted Agent Support Line 

• Broker selects plan and enters application information while on the phone with prospect – be sure to select if the enrollment is being conducted by phone

• Broker submits application and informs prospect that someone from Devoted will be reaching out within the next 2 business days to record verbal authorization of beneficiary’s intent to enroll with Devoted 

Note: If authorization is not recorded prior to the effective date, the application will not be processed.

Enrollment materials and requirements

Before you meet with a prospect, make sure they have a copy of the Summary of Benefits and additional enrollment material like the OTC and Dental Catalogs and keep a record of how these materials were sent. You can email the prospect the links to these documents, download and send them as attachments, or print and mail them. Our Summary of Benefits, OTC Catalog, Dental Catalog, and additional benefit information are all available online. 

• Summary of Benefits (choose your location then you’ll see the plan documents)
• OTC and Dental Catalogs

Compliance monitoring and oversight

Compliance is very important to us! On a monthly basis, our sales leaders monitor rapid disenrollments, application timeliness, and agent allegations. Don’t be alarmed if we contact you regarding any of these topics.

• Rapid Disenrollment: When a beneficiary disenrolls within 3 months of being on the plan or before the enrollment is final, we may reach out to discuss how to prevent this from happening with future enrollments. Specifically, we’re monitoring Annual Enrollment Period (Rapid Disenrollment Rate > ~7%, min.  20 + applications for 1/1/2020 effectives) and Open Enrollment Period and Rest of the Year (Rapid Disenrollment Rate > ~7%, min. 10 + applications for 2/1/2020 effectives).
• Application Timeliness: To comply with CMS enrollment submission requirements, agents/brokers must submit 98% of their applications within 3 days of receipt date. We highly recommend using our electronic enrollment tools to avoid any processing delays.
• Agent Allegation Investigation: We investigate all complaints/grievances of agent marketing misrepresentation submitted by members and/or the member’s legal authorized representative. As part of the investigation process, we may request an agent statement via email and ask that agents/brokers respond within the specified timeframe to assist in resolving the case. If any improvement opportunities are identified based on the individual case findings and/or agent’s overall allegation history, we will work with the agent/broker to help reduce complaints.

As always, we are here to support you please feel free to contact you local sales leaders with questions.