Guidelines for Hosting a Compliant Medicare Sales Event

If you’re planning a marketing event to attract more Medicare clients, it’s essential to follow CMS regulations for sales events. These rules ensure compliance and protect both you and potential beneficiaries.

 

Planning Your Event

The first step in organizing a compliant Medicare sales event is deciding which type of marketing event you’d like to hold. CMS distinguishes between two types of sales events:

• Formal Sales Events: The agent presents specific plan information to an audience that has been invited to attend.
• Informal Sales Events: The agent provides plan information upon request while stationed at a table, booth, kiosk, or RV.

Once you’ve determined the event type, you’ll need to select a time and venue. Sales events must be registered with the appropriate parties and held in a public setting, ensuring that the location is not where individuals receive health care services. However, sales activities are permitted in common areas of health care facilities, such as entryways, waiting rooms, hospital cafeterias, and community or conference rooms.

It is important to note that you cannot conduct sales activities in exam rooms, patient rooms, treatment areas where patients interact with healthcare providers, or pharmacy counters where medications are dispensed. Additionally, avoid holding sales events at health fairs or expos offering health screenings to prevent the perception of “cherry picking” beneficiaries. Also, remember that you cannot schedule a sales event within 12 hours of an educational event in the same building or any adjacent buildings.

To ensure compliance, schedule your event well in advance to secure an appropriate venue and allow time for proper promotion.

 

Registering Your Event: A Step-by-Step Journey

Imagine you’ve planned the perfect Medicare sales event. You’ve picked the venue, designed the presentation, and you’re ready to engage with potential clients. But before you can take the stage, there’s an essential step you can’t overlook: registering your event with the carriers you represent.

Each carrier has its own set of rules, and it’s crucial to follow them closely. One day, Steven, an experienced agent, was preparing for her upcoming sales event. He knew the importance of registering her event early, as each carrier had different deadlines. He logged into her agent portal to find the necessary guidance, making sure he submitted his event information form to the right sales manager through the online reporting tool. As Steven double-checked the deadlines, he remembered a story about another agent who didn’t submit their event in time. They had to reschedule the entire thing, costing them valuable time and potential leads. Worse still, some agents had missed out on their commissions and even risked losing their contracts simply by failing to register.

Steven knew better. He took the time to understand each carrier’s specific requirements. If ever in doubt, he called the agent support number for help—always available here at Essential Care, where support numbers and agent portal links were easy to find.

One golden rule Steven always followed: if an event wasn’t clearly advertised as “educational,” it had to be registered as a marketing event. Any slip-up here could spell disaster, and Steven wasn’t willing to take that risk.

 

Marketing Your Sales Event: Sarah’s Path to Success

Now that his event was registered, Steven moved on to marketing. He knew that Medicare sales events had strict guidelines, so he crafted her invitations and ads with care. He remembered from a previous event that it wasn’t allowed to ask potential attendees for their contact information just to RSVP. He also knew to avoid calling her event “educational”—a mistake that could lead to complications, as educational events followed different rules.

Instead, Steven disclosed exactly what products he planned to review and included all the necessary disclaimers:

• For accommodation of persons with special needs at sales meetings, call [insert phone and TTY number].
• Not affiliated with or endorsed by the government or federal Medicare program.

Steven knew that if she was marketing Medicare Advantage or Part D plans, he also needed the Third-Party Marketing Organization (TPMO) disclaimer. Depending on whether she was promoting all plans in the area or just a few, she used one of two disclaimers:

• If marketing fewer than all available plans:
  “We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently, we represent [insert number of organizations] organizations, which offer [insert number of plans] products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) to get information on all of your options.”
• If marketing all plans:
  “Currently, we represent [insert number of organizations] organizations, which offer [insert number of plans] products in your area. You can always contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Program (SHIP) for help with plan choices.”

Promoting the event through mailers, flyers, and online platforms was Steven’s next step. He always made sure that if an event was canceled at least two days in advance, he informed his audience through the same channels he used to advertise.

 

Giving the Presentation: A Moment of Opportunity

When the day finally arrived, Steven was ready to give his presentation. He had planned every detail, knowing full well that sales events are a space for marketing and guiding attendees toward the best Medicare options. As he stood before his audience, Steven was confident, but he never forgot the key rules that guided his actions.

For Steven, these events were not just about leads; they were about trust. He was careful with the information he shared and always stayed within CMS guidelines, ensuring that his actions remained compliant while still engaging his audience.

In the end, Steven’s preparation, attention to detail, and adherence to compliance rules allowed his event to run smoothly—and his clients, in turn, trusted his expertise. This AEP, both Steven and his clients walked away with exactly what they needed.

 

Do’s	Don’ts
Allow beneficiaries to initiate contact with you at informal events	Ask for or accept a referral
Utilize sign-in sheets that clearly state providing contact information is optional	Provide health screenings or activities that could be perceived as or result in “cherry picking.”
Announce all the products and plan types you’ll be discussing before the event begins	Make the use of a sign-in sheet mandatory for attendees
Use presentations and talking points that have been approved by both the carrier and CMS	Compare one carrier’s plan to another by name without obtaining written consent from all carriers involved or without having factual studies or statistical data to support the comparison. Comparisons must be accurate and not misleading
Hand out giveaways that include your contact information	Promote or cross-sell non-healthcare-related products, such as annuities or life insurance
Distribute promotional items that display the plan name, logo, toll-free number, and/or carrier website	Use absolute or qualified superlatives (e.g., referring to a plan as the “best”)
Offer refreshments or light snacks, such as coffee, soda, fruit, or crackers	Utilize contact information provided by attendees for raffles or drawings for any other purpose.
Distribute unbiased educational materials covering Medicare Advantage, Part D, and other Medicare-related programs	Offer cash or any other form of monetary rebates.
Provide star ratings information, the Summary of Benefits, Pre-Enrollment Checklist, and the Multi-Language Insert alongside any enrollment form	Provide or subsidize meals, or offer a combination of food and beverages that could be perceived as providing a meal
Gather lead cards and business reply cards	Mandate that attendees complete a Scope of Appointment form or enrollment forms
Accept and gather enrollment applications	Hold a sales event within 12 hours of an educational event in the same building or nearby buildings.
Include the required TPMO disclaimer on all printed marketing materials
Distribute your business card freely to any attendee
Schedule follow-up appointments and gather Scope of Appointment forms for those future meetings
Contact attendees who provided documented express permission during the sales event for a follow-up call