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Creating a Medicare Compliant Website for Less than $20

Creating a Medicare Compliant Website for Less than $20

Creating a Medicare Compliant Website for Less than $20
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With the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic, every aspect of the business world has had to adapt. Medicare agents across the country have had to learn firsthand how to adjust to the new normal of operating remotely. One of the most important things to help with remote selling is having a client-facing website. Websites, even at the most simplistic form, can generate inbound leads for potential clients or even generate sales with little to no interaction with the consumer. Many people think having a website can be expensive to set up and costly to operate. This is highly untrue.

Pinnacle Financial Services has an online Medicare enrollment technology, known as Connect4Medicare, that will allow you to create a website for less than a trip to the convenience store. Connect4Medicare allows our contracted agents to sell Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plans (MAPD), stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans (PDP), and Medicare Supplements (Medigap) products remotely. Within the system, the agent gets access to a unique URL that can allow their clients to enroll themselves while the agent would still be the agent of record and get paid! Now the trick is to go to a domain hosting website, like GoDaddy, and purchase a domain.

Linking your domain and unique URL code with Connect4Medicare is a breeze! I help agents across the country every day with this and I wouldn’t hesitate to help you! Pinnacle Financial Services is a full-service “FMO” that is here to help you during these trying times. We have a full suite of technology for every aspect of your business, personalized back office support, and unique lead programs for all lines of business. Don’t have a website? Give Pinnacle Financial Services a call and we can get you set up in less than 5 minutes!

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Financial Services representative today

1 (800) 772-6881 x7731 | sales@pfsinsurance.com

Rob Valincius

Rob Valincius

Director of Agent Training

x7701 | rvalincius@pfsinsurance.com

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

Contact Us

Contact a Pinnacle Financial Service representative today for assistance.

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Virtual Back Office

Virtual Back Office

Virtual Back Office
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As an independent agent, typically all aspects of the business rest solely on your shoulders. It is important to be able to deliver the type of service that a large brokerage can handle but on a much smaller scale. So, what does a back-office look like? A back office is defined as the portion of a company made up of administration and support personnel who are not client-facing. As an insurance agent, you typically need to handle issues like licensing, client inquiries, enrollment status, and many more. At Pinnacle Financial Services, we offer all our agents’ access to our back office at no cost!

Here are the following divisions that you have access to just for partnering with Pinnacle Financial Services:

  • Technology: You can’t have a back office these days without having technology. When you partner with Pinnacle Financial Services, we give you every piece of technology you could have at your fingertips. Just to name a few, you have access to a proprietary online enrollment platform for Medicare known as Connect4Medicare, a CRM system for keeping track of leads known as AgencyBloc, a data aggregator that keeps track of all of your business called AgentVizion, and quoting software for every line of senior insurance you can think of.
  • Health and Life Support Staff: We have 8 people dedicated to helping you with all aspects of your business. Our health and life support staff have exclusive access to next level support for every carrier. Have you ever had to wait on hold for an hour to finally get someone who can’t answer your questions? Not only will our support staff take those calls off your hands, but we will always get you that answer you need with 24 hours.
  • Enrollments: Although many of us are enrolling clients via electronic applications, we have an entire staff dedicated to scrubbing and processing applications for you. They ensure that applications are never sent to the carrier with missing information, missing pages or documents and that you are licensed and appointed in the area where the application is being submitted.
  • Compliance: At Pinnacle Financial Services, we feel that staying compliant requires a full-time job. We have that handled for you as well. We have a compliance team that can help you through all the difficult rules and regulations that CMS has governed on your Medicare business. We can help create your agency compliance charter at no cost as well!
  • Graphic Design: Ever thought about creating a logo? Or how about a mail-piece that is specific to the market you are trying to capture? We have a graphic designer at the office who can help you with all of that and more!

By utilizing our back-office support, you can operate as an independent agent, but on the scope of large scale operation. We don’t want to be a typical “FMO”, but a partner in your success. If you are sitting here wondering how you can continue to write business during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) crisis, then you need to pick up your phone and call Pinnacle Financial Services.

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Financial Services representative today

1 (800) 772-6881 x7731 | sales@pfsinsurance.com

Rob Valincius

Rob Valincius

National Director of Agent Training

x7701 | rvalincius@pfsinsurance.com

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

Contact Us

Contact a Pinnacle Financial Service representative today for assistance.

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Medicare SEP

Medicare SEP

Medicare SEP

Once the Annual Election Period (AEP for short) is complete, the common misconception in the Medicare market is that an agent can no longer sell Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans. Throughout the year, there are plenty of opportunities outside of AEP to write clients into Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans. These specific opportunities are known as special election periods or SEPs. When working with Pinnacle Financial Services, we make sure our agents understand the various opportunities you have to place a client into a plan that may better suit their needs. The following are some of the most frequently used special election periods:

  • The client moved to a new address that is no longer within a plan’s service area (typically a different county)
  • Loss of employer or union coverage
  • Loss of Medicaid eligibility
  • The client becomes eligible for Medicaid (and Medicare)
  • Client qualifies for extra help or low-income subsidy

This is only a select few, to see the full list of different SEP options you can view them here. As an agent, you can also help to qualify clients for programs that can trigger these special election periods. For instance, there is a website called Benefitscheckup.org that is sponsored by Aetna, which can help identify if your client can qualify for any state and federal-based assistance programs. Pinnacle Financial Services offers agents various ways to learn how to understand these tools through media like webinars and blogs. We also have a dedicated sales and support staff that can help you through any of the difficult situations that may arise with a prospective client.

Pinnacle Financial Services offers the best support, technology, and service in the industry. 

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Representative today at 1-(800)-772-6881 x7731 or email sales@pfsinsurance.com.

Rob Valincius

Rob Valincius

Director of Agent Training

1 (800) 772-6881 x7701
rvalincius@pfsinsurance.com

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

Contact Us

Contact a Pinnacle Financial Service representative today for assistance.

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Medicare Agent Contracting Made Easy

Medicare Agent Contracting Made Easy

Medicare Agent Contracting Made Easy

Contracting to be able to sell Medicare insurance policies does not need to be a hassle. Here at Pinnacle Financial Services, we understand your time is money. Everything we do here is designed to make your life easy by taking away barriers to entry.

In today’s day and age, most of the major Medicare carriers have begun to accept contracting links in lieu of physical contracts. Companies like UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Humana, Independence Blue Cross, and Cigna HealthSpring are just a few that have gone in this direction. There are, however, a few advantages to this that we have utilized to make contracting with Medicare companies a breeze.

Introducing Pinnacle Financial Services Spot Sign. This is a way to contract with us for some Medicare, and life companies, in less than 60 seconds! You heard that right. In as little as 60 seconds, you can fill out a form that our licensing team will utilize to send you contracting links for the companies you decide you’d like to work with. Now should you decide there are other companies that you wish to work with that do not offer a link option, we have that covered as well. There are two other options available to contract with Medicare companies, online via pfsinsurance.com and a physical contract. If you’d like to submit a request via our online portal, you can do that here. Pinnacle Financial Services also houses an entire licensing division that processes and submits paper contracts for you. All you need to do is fill out this form, Pinnacle Contract, and get us all of the necessary documents to submit to the carriers for you!

Medicare can appear to be a daunting process altogether, but with the right partner, it can be a breeze. Pinnacle Financial Services is not just an FMO or your upline, we are your partner in this journey. We offer technology to all our contracted agents that are second to none, dedicated support for anything you may need, and the highest contracts available to agents. Allow us to help grow your Medicare book of business and you will not regret it.

For more information, contact a Pinnacle Representative today at 1-(800)-772-6881 x7731 or email sales@pfsinsurance.com.

Rob Valincius

Rob Valincius

Director of Agent Training

1 (800) 772-6881 x7701
rvalincius@pfsinsurance.com

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

Contact Us

Contact a Pinnacle Financial Service representative today for assistance.

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Medicare Agent Contracting Made Easy

AHIP Tips & Tricks

AHIP Tips & Tricks

Getting into selling Medicare Advantage, What do you need to do? I would love to be able to steer you into the right direction with some tips and tricks on the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D required training known as AHIP. Let’s talk about the fundamentals.

What is AHIP?

AHIP stands for America’s Health Insurance Plans and is the nationally recognized training that the Medicare advantage carriers accept as part of their yearly certification training.

Is there any cost?

Yes. AHIP typically costs $175 if you sign up directly. If you do the training through one of the major insurance carriers (like Independence Blue Cross,) the carrier will typically give you a $50 discount right away.

What does it involve?

AHIP consists of 2 separate parts. There is the Medicare training portion and the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse portion.

The Medicare training consists of 5 modules and a 2 hour, 50-question test. If you are taking this for a second year or more, you are only required to take module 4, 5, and the test.

The Fraud, Waste, and Abuse training is 3 modules with no major test.

Tips & Tricks

AHIP’s 2020 test has been the most challenging version in the past few years. So as an FMO, it’s Pinnacle’s job to help agents become better equipped to handle obstacles in their way.

Here are some helpful tips to prepare you:

  • Take your time and read the question and answers carefully. Although there is a time-limit, it is important to understand the question. These are meant to be difficult and can have multiple answers that may read similar but are completely different.
  • You must pass with a 90% score, meaning you can only get 5 answers wrong. There are a few questions that are not within the reading material so don’t drive yourself crazy looking for the answer.
  • Some material will be foreign to you. AHIP covers a variety of obscure topics like cost plans, private-fee-for service (PFFS) plans, and even power of attorney.
  • Just like the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, never give up! You have 3 attempts before you must pay the fee again. If you should fail once, it’s not the end of the world.

The team here at Pinnacle Financial Services is here to help! Once agents get past the smallest hurdles, Pinnacle has the tools to make their lives easier to submit business, such as our proprietary Medicare Advantage quoting software, Connect4Medicare.

Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

<a href="https://pfsinsurance.com/about/partner/rob-valincius/" target="_blank">Rob Valincius</a>

Rob Valincius

Director of Sales - Health

Contact a Pinnacle Representative if you have any questions.

1 (800) 772-6881
support@pfsinsurance.com

Contact Us

Contact a Pinnacle Financial Service representative today for assistance.

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