Medicare Plan Distributors Add Call Recording Tools

The TPMO Rules

CMS has responded to concerns about high-pressured, advertising-driven Medicare plan telemarketing campaigns by defining a broad class of "third party marketing organizations," in regulations completed in April, and requiring all TPMOs to begin recording calls starting Oct. 1.

All TPMOs, including retail agents and brokers, who represent only some of the Medicare plans available in a given market — rather than all — are supposed to warn consumers about that within the first minute of the conversation.

TPMOs are supposed to record calls and save the recordings for at least 10 years so that they can show auditors later that they assessed consumers' needs properly, explained Medicare plan benefits well and made sure that consumers understood that they were signing up for some coverage.

The Medicare Advantage and Medicare drug plan annual enrollment period for 2023 starts Oct. 15 and is set to run through Dec. 7.

Many retail producers support CMS efforts to rein in the national telemarketing programs but have concerns about how workable the new rules are for traditional local agents and brokers. At press time, Agents and Brokers Against CMS Call Recording, a producer group, had attracted about 11,000 of the signatures sought for a petition opposing the current version of the new call recording requirements.

(Image: CMS)