It’s less than a month for the start of open enrollments and quite possibly, you might have geared up for one of the busiest and hectic periods of the year. But, are you sure you’re ready enough? Are you happy with your last year’s strategy?

Are you planning to repeat the last year’s OE strategy this year too? Maybe yes!

But, if you are still in a dilemma, consider the following self-evaluation test. This will help you analyze your strategy better!

 Re-consider Your “Open Enrollment Basics”

Clear your basics and evaluate your current Open Enrollment strategy. This can prove to be extremely helpful in building a base for smooth implementation in the coming open enrollment season and keeping you prepared for the uncertainties:

•    Have you passed on all the relevant information such as product details, processes and the expected delivery model to all stakeholders well in advance?
•    Was sufficient time provided to employees to understand the processes and products?
•    Were the enrollment details and its progress communicated effectively?
•    Do all the employees understand the need and importance of Health Care Reform and the importance of your offerings?

Check With Employees’ Enrollment Experience!

Do your employees feel that they are being told about open enrollment only when it’s time to enroll for the process and thus, aren't able to make proper decisions? If this is the case, then you need to seriously reconsider your strategy! The enrollment process is extremely crucial for the experience of the participating employee and should help in enhancing their engagement with the company.
Following questions are designed to help evaluate the existing process and analyze which areas need significant improvement:

•    How was your communication? Did all employees understand the enrolling process properly?
•    Did they have any kind of technical or procedural issue while enrolling?
•    Were the pre-decided enrollment goals for each plan easily acquired?
•    Were there any problems in plan electing process?
•    Was the review period provided to the employees and how many change requests were reported?

Analyze Enrollment Success as a Whole!

Successful enrollment is the real key to measure success of a benefit or the open enrollment period. Although various issues affect the success rate, but with proper measures, they can surely be avoided. Following questions will help you analyze the overall success of your last year’s open enrollment strategy:

•    Are you satisfied with the results at the end? If not, what are the weak areas and how much improvement they require? 
•    Are you satisfied with the contribution of your service provider and key people involved?
•    How effective was your communication process?
•    What impact the results will put on your upcoming strategy? Analyze the results and compare them with the expectations?

By analyzing your previous year’s strategy under all these aspects,  you will very well be able to determine whether or not it is appropriate to continue the old OE strategy for the upcoming open enrollment season.
If you don’t get the desired results, it is never too late to begin your planning.  Make necessary changes in your strategy and overcome the hurdles that you reluctantly faced in the last session of open enrollments. Furthermore, you need to examine your previous strategy on the basis of the new mandates or changes coming into effect from this year. Also, you must modify and make your strategy “compliance competent”!