The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released new compliance rules and guidelines for 2023. The upcoming change is thought to combat misleading advertising by Third Party Marketing Organizations (TPMO’s) that encourage consumers to sign up for a Medicare Advantage plan they may not even be eligible for. To discourage these sales tactics, CMS has updated the requirements regarding call recording and storage.
Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming guideline changes:
Starting October 1st, 2022, agents must record all calls with beneficiaries, especially any regarding any sale or promotion of Medicare Advantage and Part D, in their entirety. This now means that any call made with a beneficiary must be recorded and they must be informed that they are being recorded. In addition to these changes, the recordings must be stored for a minimum of 10 years.
You’ll need to provide a new disclaimer during all sales calls, emails or online chats, on your website, and on all marketing materials. According to CMS, the following disclaimer must be verbally provided within the first minute of any call:
“We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.”
Moving Forward with New Guidelines
While these new CMS regulations are meant to benefit the consumer and protect beneficiaries from harmful sales tactics, it puts a considerable amount of responsibility on TPO’s and agents. Managing records of all calls and maintaining security of records for a decade requires tremendous regulation. Once you have alerted your agents to the upcoming changes, you can consider finding a provider you trust to help mitigate the IT and data development to store beneficiary phone recordings. Optus can partner with you to navigate new call recordings, cloud storage, and data security to ensure that your transition to the new guidelines goes smoothly, all while providing 24/7 technical support. As a national leader in IT and telephony solutions, Optus has the expert knowledge and years of experience to help guide your agents through new technical protocol. Learn more about the IT services we offer and how Optus can help support you with shifting technology needs.
