You have closed out your open enrollment and are now wondering, “What are my next steps?”. Here are a couple suggestions from our HR Client Open Enrollment Checklist for your consideration:
- Run reports comparing plans/coverage/amounts and/or run a few test checks to make sure new pricing/plans pull through to payroll as expected.
- Review December and January benefit start dates/plans for New Hires. This is especially needed for plan & carrier changes between enrollment plan years to ensure new hire benefits are transitioned.
- If you offer Flexible Spending Plans (or any other plans that require annual re-enrollment), make sure the 2020 plans have an end-dated as of 12/31/20.
- If you offer Voluntary Ancillary plans where employees had option to add coverage that requires an Evidence of Insurability, send out reminder notices to employees to complete their forms and submit to Carrier.
- When you receive your Carrier invoices for January, compare to your Open Enrollment reports to make sure any changes to plans, coverage amounts, coverage types, and dependents are accurate.
- Run a report on dependents that includes age and look to see if you have any dependents that will “age out” of coverage in 2021 and note which month that will happen. You can set up a system reminder notification or you may also wish to notify the employee now.
- Review your dependents records to ensure any missing SSN/DOB/Gender that are required by Carriers are updated.
- If you made changes to plans, switched any carriers, or had dependent eligibility changes, that may have triggered COBRA qualifying events. Reach out to your COBRA Administrator to let them know which events will require initial notices (as applicable).
- Take a minute to review your Open Enrollment process and note successes and areas for improvement for next cycle:
- Was your enrollment process easy for your employees to navigate?
- Did you receive rates and plan information in a timely manner?
- Did you decide on your company contribution in a timely manner?
- Did you provide Innovative with enough time to update your plans/rates?
- Did you close out your Open Enrollment in enough time to allow Carriers to update their records and issue new cards to participants?
- Did you use the WebHR enrollment module? If not, is that something to consider for the future?
- Should you budget in 2021 to add WebHR/Carrier Connectivity/COBRA/Bill Reconciliation services through Innovative?
Did you know that Innovative Business Solutions offers two scalable versions of Human Resources Management software to meet your company’s benefit administration needs? Moreover, we offer add-ons for retirement plan and benefit connectivity. Reach out to us to learn more.
Disclaimer: These materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended as legal or tax advice. Readers of the IBS Blog should contact their legal or tax professionals to discuss how these matters relate to their individual circumstances.