Scope Of Appointment Medicare

What Is Scope Of Appointment In Medicare?

Scope of appointment is a form that outlines what an agent will present to a Medicare beneficiary. Medicare beneficiaries must request information on specific plan types and only those requested plans will be covered during the presentation. Presentations can only be held after permission to contact is established.

All one-on-one phone calls or face-to-face conversations must be preceded by a scope of appointment. All agents must keep their scope of appointments on file for at least 10 years and must be kept even if a sale was not made.

In the event that a client would like to speak about other plan types that were not requested during the meeting then another scope of appointment is required before you continue.

What Are The Different Plan Types A Medicare Beneficiary Can Specify They Want To Discuss?

Medicare beneficiaries must specify what plan types they are interested in before they speak with an agent. There are a few plan types that the beneficiary can check.

• • Stand-alone medicare prescription drug plans (Medicare Part D)
  • Medicare Advantage plans (Medicare Part C) and cost plans
  • Medicare Supplements (Medigap) products

Scope Of Appointment Medicare Guidelines

The following list are a few things that we recommend you do to make sure you are being compliant. Remember the CMS uses secret shoppers to make sure agents are in tip-top shape.

• • The nature of a meeting is what determines if a scope of appointment is needed. If the meeting is made while at a Medicare sales event a scope of appointment medicare form is generally not required. However, if the meeting was set up as an in-person meeting then it is required.
  • If at the meeting there are multiple other people that have not signed a scope of appointment and wish to receive information as well. All of the other individuals must sign a scope of appointment as well.
  • A scope of appointment is required to be signed regardless of age or relationship to the Medicare beneficiary. Even if there is someone representing the medicare beneficiary a scope must be signed.
  • The form is not required at educational events
  • If a prospective beneficiary walks into an agent’s office and requests information a form must be signed.
  • The form is only required for sales or marketing purposes. If someone calls for anything related to customer service then the agent may speak freely about those customer service subjects.
  • If a beneficiary refuses to sign the form, the agent must let them know that the form is there to protect the beneficiary and that the agent can not proceed without it.
  • Agents can not ask for referrals from a beneficiary, if the beneficiary would like to recommend someone to the agent then the agent can hand them a business card so the beneficiaries referral may contact the agent directly

For a more comprehensive overview of Medicare marketing, check out our Medicare Marketing Dos and Don’ts blog post!

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