Medicare sales events are a fantastic way to educate a group of individuals about a Medicare Advantage plan. You can enroll multiple people in the same plan at one time. That's a huge time saver, especially if you have a lot of clients to see during AEP.
That said, you do need to know the compliance guidelines. But once you understand them? You'll be ready to enjoy all the perks of hosting your own sales event.A sales event, or marketing event as they are sometimes called, is an event where all allowable types of marketing activities can occur. It's designed to steer, or attempt to steer, potential enrollees toward a plan or a limited set of plans.
Agents may educate beneficiaries just like at an educational event, but they can also market specific plans and discuss plan specific benefits, along with other compliant marketing activities. They must have clearly identified the event as a sales/marketing event, not an educational event.
Keep in mind, there are two different types of sales events:
Helpful resources:
We’ll start with something you don't have to worry about – scope of appointment forms, or SOAs.
When hosting a Medicare sales event, you are not required to collect SOAs for the attendees because they are not personal/individual appointments.
You will need to pick a venue for your sales event.
Sales events must be hosted at a public venue, such as a senior center, your local library, at a retirement community, or a conference room in a hotel.
You can hold sales events in a healthcare setting, but it has to be in a common area, like an entryway, hospital cafeteria, conference room, or waiting area.
You cannot hold sales events in restricted areas where care, treatment or provider interaction occurs, such as exam rooms, hospital patient rooms, and pharmacy counter areas.
If you want to provide any snacks or promotional items for attendees, make sure the value doesn't exceed the "Nominal Gift" limit of $15.
Keep it to a bottle of water and a cookie!
You can have a sign-in sheet at your sales event, but it has to be optional. You cannot require attendees to provide contact information.
Always verify in your carrier portal or with your market rep, because carriers adjust their processes frequently.
When you have everything planned out, you'll need to report your sales event to each applicable carrier you're representing. Those carriers will file your event with CMS.
Every carrier has their own process for this as well as timeframe requirements, though 21 days in advance of your event is a safe bet. We'll outline the process for some of our biggest carriers, but still recommend you verify with them directly.
It's a good idea to start planning your sales events for AEP as early as August to make sure you're all set by October and always confirm your state‑specific process.
Aetna still requires agents to report all sales events, but the current workflow goes through Producer World or your Aetna broker manager, not the older Coventry processes.
Typical steps include:
Request the current Seminar/Event Reporting Template from your Aetna Medicare broker manager.
Submit according to the manager’s instructions; Aetna markets differ.
If your market still uses the Agent Oversight mailbox, the address is MedicareSemi@aetna.com, as referenced in FMO compliance resources.
Lead Time is typically ≥10 days, or before advertising begins.
Anthem continues to require agents to enter events in their Sales Event Tracker after completing required certification.
Steps typically include:
Log in to your Anthem Medicare Certification Training Center.
Open the Sales Event Tracker.
Click Create Event, enter event/venue/marketing details, and submit.
Update or cancel events in the tracker as needed. [member.hea...spring.com]
Lead Time: Historically ≥10 days, before advertising or whichever comes first.
Cigna requires sales/marketing events to be reported using the Sales Event Log Template, available through your Cigna Broker Sales Representative (BSR).
Typical process:
Request the current Sales Event Log Template from your BSR.
Submit the completed form at least 10 days prior to the event.
If you are using a Cigna Formal Sales Presentation, you must also:
Complete the Sales Event Form
Email it to salesevents@healthspring.com (still used in compliance resources)
Complete the required Sales Event Training Attestation module.
Note: Cigna branding has consolidated under Cigna Healthcare, but legacy HealthSpring emails are still referenced in recent compliance materials.
Humana requires agents to report events through their local Market Support Staff (MSS).
Standard workflow includes:
Obtain Humana’s Excel Event Reporting Template (via MSS or your upline).
Email the completed form to your local MSS contact.
MSS will enter your event into the Humana reporting system and send a confirmation.
Lead Time: Approximately two weeks with the exception of AEP. During AEP, expect approximately three weeks.
Wellcare (Centene)
If you decide to cancel your sales event, make sure you know each carrier's process and timeframe requirements.
If you cancel within the minimum required timeframe, a representative should still be present to notify potential attendees of the cancellation. That person needs to stay at least a half an hour past the scheduled start time.
At a sales event, you can do the following:
You have a lot of leeway when you do a sales event right – take advantage of that and make sure you market yourself and the plans you offer.
You cannot hold marketing events within 12 hours of an educational event if it's in the same location. The same location is defined as the entire building or adjacent buildings.
If you plan to do educational and marketing events, keep them separate!
To do a compliant sales seminar, you must have the following materials with you:
Here are some optional materials that are helpful to bring with you:
The sales presentation video should be shown at the beginning of your sales seminar. It hits on most of the points that are required for you to say in the secret shopper checklist.
Here's a quick list:
All of these are common sense, so just be yourself and continue helping seniors understand their Medicare options!
When you read through and get familiar with the rules surrounding sales events, it's actually not that intimidating.
August and September are the perfect months to start planning any sales events you want to do during AEP. Pick out some dates, find a venue, and get your event filed with the carrier you plan to talk about.
The next step is to fill up your seats, but that's a topic for another blog post!