In this series, e123 President Brendan McLoughlin will explain what Strategic Revenue Management (SRM) is with a detailed 6-step guide on how you can implement this framework within your organization.

Stop Guessing and Start Winning this Open Enrollment Season

Open enrollment is the most critical revenue window for health insurance carriers. This regulatory-driven seasonality gives carriers one concentrated opportunity to shape their growth trajectory for the entire year. And with the latest changes in healthcare policy, the open enrollment period will be shorter in the future, which is why carriers need to start preparing for the significant changes ahead now.

Many carriers tend to enter this high-stakes period flying blind, without the real-time visibility they need to steer performance where it matters most. Without immediate access to enrollment data by product, geography, distribution partner, or agent, they can’t identify what’s working until it’s too late to pivot.

Step 5: Optimize in the Strategic Revenue Management (SRM) framework isn’t just about executing the plan you built in our previous four steps. Carriers who outperform adapt and adjust in real time, using daily performance data to make smart decisions throughout the enrollment window.

Why Most Carriers Struggle with Open Enrollment Visibility

During open enrollment, the biggest challenge isn’t always about competition. It’s often about a lack of information. Most carrier systems aren’t built to communicate with each other. If carriers don’t have the systems that can produce real-time enrollment reports, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to course-correct in time to change outcomes.

This is especially problematic with Medicare applications, which pass through CMS before reaching the carrier. If CMS declines an application due to something as simple as a typo in a Medicare ID, the carrier may not be notified, and the agent will not be informed either. Only the applicant hears from CMS, leaving everyone else in the dark, assuming the application is moving forward. The result? A lost opportunity to capture that member.

With the changes to eligibility requirements, Medicare enrollment could be even more chaotic this year, making the need for real-time data even more critical.

The Power of Real-Time Enrollment Monitoring

Top-performing carriers treat open enrollment like a live optimization campaign. They don’t set a plan and walk away. They monitor, react, and refine daily.

Real-time enrollment data provides immediate insight into what’s working and what’s not. If a key market underperforms, carriers know within hours, not weeks. If a distribution partner or agent is behind expectations, they can step in with support, training, or plan education. That real-time support builds agent loyalty, increases agent mindshare, and demonstrates that you are easy to do business with.

Carriers that win in Step 5: Optimize build visibility across multiple dimensions:

• Real-time dashboards with details by product, geography, and channel
• Agent-level performance data to surface who’s succeeding and who needs help
• Application status visibility, including CMS processing and decline notifications
• Automated alerts that flag trends and variations, and track potential compliance issues before they become problems

With the right platform, this kind of intelligence isn’t aspirational. It’s available.

Strategic Mid-Enrollment Adjustments That Drive Results

Real-time insights enable dynamic resource allocation during the enrollment period. If one geography is overperforming, you can redirect marketing spend to build on that momentum and increase Local Relative Market Share (LRMS). This is how smart carriers turn enrollment from static execution into dynamic optimization.

You can also make strategic adjustments to your distribution network. If an agent’s performance dips early, you have time to check in, re-train, or adjust incentives. Commission management becomes a growth lever. You can even introduce weekly bonus structures tied to live performance data.

Building a Framework for Daily Optimization

To gain real value from real-time data, you need more than dashboards. You need to build a culture of daily action. During enrollment, schedule a daily cross-functional meeting to review overnight performance and identify potential actions for immediate adjustments.

These briefings should focus on high-impact questions:

• Which agents or geographies need attention?
• Which tactics are working and should be amplified?
• Where can a small resource shift make a big difference?

Use automated alerts to flag performance issues as they appear. Respond to trends the same day, not days later.

Make sure your technology gives you full visibility into every layer of enrollment, including CMS status, agent engagement, member progress, and distribution partner contribution.

Ready to Optimize Your Open Enrollment Performance?

You only get one shot each year to maximize open enrollment performance. Don’t leave it to chance! This year in particular, with all of the chaos expected in the market, smart carriers are embracing Strategic Revenue Management with integrated data and real-time visibility, e123 provides carriers the tools to adapt fast, optimize enrollment efforts, and drive growth throughout the AEP window.

To learn more about our SRM 6-step plan, download our Strategic Revenue Management whitepaper, revisit our previous SRM blog posts, watch my presentation on SRM, and stay tuned for the next post in this SRM series. 

Ready to adopt the SRM approach? Schedule a consultation with e123 to optimize open enrollment with integrated data visibility.