ANOC is coming
With a multi-headed beast like your Annual Notice of Changes (ANOC), it’s only natural to feel like you’re getting swept away in a tidal wave of regulations, deadlines, internal approvals, translations, benefits, health plans and data, data and more data. The unfortunate part in all this is when you start to feel like you’re going down for the third time, and then it is often too late to get the help you need to complete your books on time—at least not without paying through the nose for a huge outsourced staff or round-the-clock assistance to close the gap.
That said, a good rule of thumb is if you’re wondering if you’re going to need outside help, you need it! To minimize your costs—and to prevent a few gray hairs for everyone involved—it’s always best to contract with an agency like TRAFFIK that is heavily experienced in ANOC production as early as possible. You know, before your drop-dead mail deadline is staring at you in the face and you are gasping your last breaths.
To help you figure out when it’s time to say “when,” here are a few warning signs that you’re not going to be able to make it through this ANOC season on your own:
1. You’re not worried about researching your regulatory materials
This is a definite red flag. At this stage in the game, you should be buried in an avalanche of regs. If you aren’t, either you’re super on top of your game, our something is very wrong.
2. You haven’t audited last year’s offerings
Making changes to your offerings is a key part of improving on a previous year’s ANOC efforts. If you haven’t looked closely at what won you new business in which markets by now, there isn’t much time left to do it meaningfully and still cover all of your other bases, too.
3. You are still deciding between automated and manual compiling
As we pointed out in a recent blog entry, if you haven’t already made this determination, time may have made it for you. And if you’re this far behind in your planning, the months ahead will be brutal indeed.
4. You serve multi-lingual contract areas
If even 5% of the population in the regions you serve speaks a language other than English, you are required by law to translate your ANOC documents into that language. This means you will need more personnel for translation services, specialized proofreaders and more.
5. It is June!
This is perhaps the most frightening warning sign of them all! If you want to enlist help for your ANOC campaign “while there is still time,” this is the time when you should be picking up the phone.
Ready to discuss your ANOC options? We still have some slots available for this year’s campaign and can help out, but time is of the essence. Give us a ring or leave a message below; we’ll touch base to determine your level of need and prepare a game plan that will have your error-free contracts in the mail on time.
