A Light at the End of the Tunnel

[StephanieCJ]

Important:
CMS UPDATE
On 10/8/2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a “CMS Third Party Marketing Memo” which provides the following updated guidance on requirements for Third Party Marketing:

• All marketing materials for Medicare Advantage plans must be submitted to CMS prior to use.
• Materials used to market MA/PD Plans may not mislead, confuse, or provide materially inaccurate information to current or potential enrollees.

Per CMS, “Advertisements intended to draw a beneficiary’s attention to an MA plan or plans and include or address content regarding plan premiums, cost sharing or benefit information, including those not mentioning a specific plan by name (as well as instances where such advertisements are made on behalf of multiple MA organizations), are marketing. Thus, these advertisements, as marketing materials, must be submitted to CMS prior to their use.”

CMS is particularly concerned with sources for lead generation and also national advertisements promoting MA plan benefits and cost savings; words or imagery on ads that give the appearance the ad is coming from the government. However, this guidance is not limited to traditional lead generation materials or television ads.

What You Need to Know
Based on updates to carrier guidance, all non-carrier branded marketing material being used to promote Medicare Advantage and/or Part D plans and reference benefits or premium, even generically, must be submitted to CMS, and also to the Carriers agents are appointed with through Agent Pipeline.
Action Required:
As soon as possible, send all of your marketing materials that fall into one of the categories below to Agent Pipeline for review and submissions to CMS and the carriers. This requirement applies to all materials that are currently in use or intended to be used for the 2022 Annual Election Period.

This filing requirement includes, but is not limited to, materials that include:

• Mention of benefits (i.e. “This plan may include benefits such as dental, vision, and hearing.”)
• Mention of plan premiums (i.e. “Plans in your area may include options with $0 premium.”)
• Mention of Part B buy-back benefits

Filing is required for all lead sources including, but not limited to:

• All marketing pieces you obtained from Third Party Lead Vendors;
• Marketing materials created by you, your downline agents; or your agency; or any entity used by you or your agents/agency, such as a lead generation vendor or website developer;
• Marketing materials used by a third party that results in a lead purchased by you, your agents; or your agency

 

[LostDollar]

This looks like it could create some problems for FMO's because it looks like the FMO is responsible for downline advertising, regardless of whether or not the FMO knows about it.

 

[StephanieCJ]

I don’t see anywhere that says the FMO is responsible for the filing. This particular entity (who I don’t even use for MA) is just saying that their down line agents can submit it to them to submit to CMS. It is also saying that agents must submit it to the carriers.

 

[LostDollar]

From your post above:

Filing is required for all lead sources including, but not limited to:

• Marketing materials created by you, your downline agents; or your agency; or any entity used by you or your agents/agency, such as a lead generation vendor or website developer;

I read that to mean that an FMO will be held responsible if any of their downline agents use MA/MAPD marketing or lead generation material which has not been approved by CMS.

So FMO's are going to have to monitor agent activity in regard to MAPD prospecting much more carefully than they have had to do before.

 

[Todd King]

From your post above:

Filing is required for all lead sources including, but not limited to:

• Marketing materials created by you, your downline agents; or your agency; or any entity used by you or your agents/agency, such as a lead generation vendor or website developer;

I read that to mean that an FMO will be held responsible if any of their downline agents use MA/MAPD marketing or lead generation material which has not been approved by CMS.

So FMO's are going to have to monitor agent activity in regard to MAPD prospecting much more carefully than they have had to do before.

No, each agent is responsible for their own stuff if they are independent. They are just spelling out what you can/should do no matter who it is. That's all.