Open Enrollment: How to Make it Simple with Technology

Open Enrollment (OE) is the time when employees or individuals can sign up for an insurance plan, or switch to an alternate plan. This is an annual opportunity to review the benefits coverage options and make choices for the upcoming calendar year.

Suppose if someone moves to a new state, marries, divorces or has a baby, open enrollment is the only time to sign up for individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. And, taking necessary actions during the open enrollment period is important for any individual who wishes to buy/change the health insurance plan.

Open Enrollment: Get Yourself Ready to Apply for 2020 Coverage

During open enrollment, anyone who wants to purchase insurance through the public exchange has the opportunity to do so despite circumstances, such as health or age. As, outside of the open enrollment period, it can be difficult to obtain insurance, either public or private unless circumstances dictate. This is the time when employees can enroll themselves for the next ‘Plan year’ and the system that manages this event is called “Open Enrollment Management System”.

One should actively enroll during the open enrollment period to get the benefits solutions that meet your needs.

And the reason is here:

Selections made during Open Enrollment will become effective for the entire year before the start of the next open enrollment period. You cannot change your benefit selections until the next open enrollment unless you experience a qualifying status change.

If you do not actively select benefits for the upcoming year, you will be enrolled in the same benefit plans at the same level of participation that you have in the current year, with the exception of flexible spending accounts.  

Hence, you must actively enroll in spending accounts each year to participate as an employee - whether you work in retail & ecommerce, shipping & logistics, banking or any other industry. 

Transactions to be done in Open Enrollment

• Add new dependents and enroll in all plan

• Delete Dependents

• Plan change

• Verification for all plan types

• OE finalization

• Print forms verification

• Editing of enrollment in OE and verification of changes in schedule

• No changes during OE 

Open Enrollment: Simplify it with Technology

Open enrollment (OE) is a very challenging and time-consuming process. But with planned groundwork, clear communication, and the use of a tailored approach, the OE can be simplified and made hassle-free. The use of HR technology can save a lot of time and money, making the process efficient and user-friendly.

Technology has the potential to simplify the open enrollment procedure. With technology-based open enrollment, every step of the benefits management process is automated, which in turn eliminates the need for paper-based processes that improves work efficiency and accuracy.

The effective execution of online enrollment can be seen in various organizations across the globe. Here are some significant changes that occurred in the corporate world due to the emergence of digitalization in open enrollment.

Helps Educate the Workforce

To boost employee engagement and reduce their turnover ratio, it is important to keep them informed about the coverage plans. Despite the efforts and investment done on improving employer-employee communication, human resource executives agree that it is exhausting to keep the workforce informed. According to a research study, “About 49% of employers strongly agree their employees need to have a better understanding of their benefits” and “Two out of five employees agree that a well-communicated benefits program would make them less likely to leave their jobs”

It’s the employer’s responsibility to inform the employees about the coverage plan/change plan before the start of the open enrollment period. In-person meetings between insurance professionals and employers should be conducted throughout the year to keep the employees aware of the benefit policies. Consequently, during the open enrollment period, employees can wisely select the plan.

Today, most of the companies provide interactive and easy to use online platforms, from where employees can access information 24/7, regarding the company’s benefits plans. Several communication tools like plan summaries, web links, videos, broadcast voice mails, online-outlets, etc., are shared that helps employees select the best coverage plan.

Additionally, the use of automated HR software (HRMS) can help create personalized plans for a group of employees as per their needs. The employee can choose benefits by comparing their past benefits choices with the changing one. This way, the organization can retain its skilled resources.

Thus, this leads to an increase in employee participation and engagement and simplifies one of the major aspects of open enrollment.

Time-Saving and Cost-Effective

Doing stacks of paperwork is very exhausting, and time-consuming that majorly affects the employee’s productivity, resulting in inefficiency and high cost. Also, paper-based enrollment makes data collection, tracking, and compliance more challenging. Thanks to the emergence of technology that saves the valuable time of human resources and helps them focus on the strategic task. According to a survey, the use of digital enrollment has reduced the time required to fill the employee benefits application form by 50 percent. Thus, it simplified the work-load of the open enrollment program.

Error-Free Operation

Data entry errors are very common while filling applications manually. Although double-check may ensure the accuracy of information to some extent; being time-consuming, it is not a feasible approach. Any missing piece of information may eventually put a pause on the enrollment process thus creating a mess for all involved and leads to employee dissatisfaction.

Bring more data accuracy by Integrating the online system streamlines the open enrollment process by reducing unnecessary paperwork and provides a self-service tool that allows workers to review and manage their benefits plans. All the time-consuming and repetitive tasks like data entry or filling form are automated that increases accuracy, job efficiency and employee engagement in the open enrollment process.

Some other benefits of integrating HR technology in the open enrollment process are as follows:

• Automation can speed-up the open enrollment process.

• Employees are informed about schedules and deadlines of benefits enrollment through automated reminders. This alleviates the HR workload to some extent.

• Introduces self-service modules that help employees manage their own data and resolve their queries.

• Brings transparency in the process as employees can access their data 24/7, evaluate their plans, see the premium amount and can compare it with other plans and past choices.

• It creates an audit trail where changes in the coverage plan can be seen. Hence, it updates all the records that can be useful from the compliance perspective.

Also Read: What You Must Look for In A Benefits Administration Software

Conclusion

Before the enrollment process opens for the year 2020, try to incorporate a well-structured plan and integrate online HR tools in the system to make the open enrollment process a success!

A3logics has expertise in various domains that enable us to provide integrated technology solutions. Get proactive support for Benefits Administration process through high-quality product development services.