New! $100 Incentive for Renewals and Updated Timelines

Punctuality pays off — agents earn $100 when they’re on time submitting a small group medical renewal for December 1 and January 1 effective dates.

Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s new incentive program rewards agents for the timely submission of renewal small groups with a December 1 or January 1 effective date. We also have a new timeline for these renewals.

Operationally, December and January are busy months at Arkansas Blue Cross. In order to better serve our small group customers, all December 1 and January 1 plan changes must be submitted with a signed contract and be received by Arkansas Blue Cross underwriting on the designated dates below. For groups not making plan changes, underwriting needs the signed contract by the anniversary date.

Renewal timeline (45 days early)

Effective Date	Completion Deadline
December 1, 2017	October 17
January 1, 2018	November 16

New groups

In the past, we’ve operated under a submission deadline. That meant we asked for paperwork to be submitted by a certain deadline and we’d start the enrollment process. Now, to provide better service we’re moving to a completion deadline, which means the group’s sold contract and binder check will need to be received in underwriting by the 15^th of the month prior to the desired effective date.  This will also be a consistent date even during our highest volume months.

We’re doing this for our customers. The new timeline will help us create a better experience for our new groups and will help resolve service issues that we’ve experienced in past years, including delays in ID cards, Rx payments and more. The change also sets some expectations around a clean submission — we’re no longer receiving incomplete submissions just for the sake of pushing it out the door on time.

New group timeline (15^th of the month prior)

Effective Date	Completion Deadline
December 1, 2017	November 15
January 1, 2018	December 15

The new timelines will help us create a better experience for our new and renewing customers, and will help resolve service issues that we’ve experienced in past years.

Two less things to do:

• Beginning December, renewal groups that completed a common ownership form previously will not be required to complete one this year unless specifically requested by the underwriter.
• In October, underwriting will no longer require new groups to submit a W-9.

Thank you for your help! We appreciate the work you do, and look forward to a successful 2018.