Are you Outsourcing your ANOC and EOC Creation to the Best People for the Job?

Preparing materials for the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) – namely Annual Notice of Changes (ANOC), Evidence of Coverage (EOC), and Summary of Benefits (SB) documents – can be a time-consuming, labor-intensive process wrought with compliance risk. As a result, many health plans opt to outsource the creation of these documents to a third-party vendor.

There are several benefits to outsourcing the creation of ANOC, EOC and SB documents. But not all vendors are created equally. Below are three things to look for when hiring a third-party vendor to create your ANOC and EOC documents.

1. Experience in the ever-changing Medicare environment

Because the rules and regulations around Medicare marketing materials are constantly changing, it’s important to work with a vendor that understands the marketplace, as well as the many rules and regulations set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Look for a company with deep industry expertise, as well as a proven track record of creating materials on time and in compliance. A vendor with this type of experience can also help health plans cut costs by identifying areas where documents can be combined to reduce printing and mailing costs.

2. An A-to-Z solution for all of your member marketing materials needs

Working with multiple vendors to create, translate, print and mail your ANOC and EOC materials can make the process even more complicated and risky, while also increasing the cycle times for completion. Miscommunication and delays that occur during the hand-offs between document authors, translation vendors, printshops, mailhouses, and Section 508 specialists can quickly make meeting CMS deadlines difficult, if not impossible. This also increases the risk of errors in the documents.

Instead, look for one vendor that can integrate and manage the entire process from start to finish, from design and distribution to compliance tracking, customized translation services and Section 508 remediation services.

3. Project transparency and oversight for your internal teams

Handing off a project as sensitive as the creation of your member marketing materials can be an anxiety-ridden process, especially when you aren’t kept in the loop with where your documents are in the process.

Look for a partner that offers transparency throughout the process. Even better, find one that uses a health-plan-specific project management tool to enable a more streamlined development process and more accurate final output of materials. The right software will store completed materials and data, which will allow health plans to easily transition document creation back in-house if and/or when the time is right.

Cody’s Outsourced Document Creation services check all of these boxes, and more. Our team of experts has years of experience building ANOC, EOC and SB documents on-time and in compliance and helping our clients to streamline their operations so they can focus on what matters most – member satisfaction. Contact us to find out how we can help you this AEP season.