Carrier Connections

How do I use carrier connections to send enrollment data to my carriers?

Purpose: We offer a direct, automated process in sending enrollment data to your carriers from BambooHR. This help guide will explain the importance of communicating with your carriers about automating the data reporting process through carrier connections. You will also find details on how to set up and use carrier connections after receiving confirmation from your carriers. 


Timeline

The timing of your communication with your carriers is crucial because the process to implement carrier connections usually takes a significant amount of time to complete. Carriers usually have the largest volume of enrollment data-processing work occurring in the fourth quarter of each year. Therefore, we recommend you have a conversation with your carrier as soon as possible. If the timing is too close to the fourth quarter, you can share enrollment data with your carriers through a CSV file export or the PDF Form Builder.

To ensure that you are able to have enrollment data reported correctly, you will need to go through several steps to find out if you qualify for carrier connections and what your carrier requires for the automated process. Don’t worry! We have created a template for you to use to make this as easy as possible for you. Read through this help guide to make sure you are fully aware of your responsibility. 

Carrier connection partners

Please review the PDF attachment below to confirm that your carrier has a carrier connection with BambooHR and meets the data synchronization criteria, which includes the following:

  • Minimum number of eligible employees
  • Covered states
  • Benefit plan types

Clicking on the PDF link below will automatically download the file onto your device.

If your carrier meets the data synchronization criteria, you can automate the process of sending your enrollment data through an API integration we have developed with a third-party data processing partner. 

If your carrier is listed in the PDF attachment, please reach out to your carrier to confirm that they are able to connect with your BambooHR account through a carrier connection.

Additionally, the Carrier Connection Partners help guide is another resource you can use to view a list of our partners. 

Communicating with your carriers
  1. Let your carrier and broker know that you want to convert from the current process to an automated one with BambooHR. This step is to confirm that your carrier will allow a connection. Do not have your carrier reach out to BambooHR at this point.
    • You can fill out the email template and send it to your broker/carrier to work with you to complete.
    • Once completed, you will use this information to set up your plans in BambooHR. 
      • If you are an existing Ben Admin customer, review your places in BambooHR to confirm details.
  2. Confirm that your carrier qualifies for the automated data feed. 
    • Each carrier has requirements you will need to meet in order for the carrier to receive data electronically.
  3. Verify that you meet the carrier's requirements.
  4. Confirm that your carrier is capable of a carrier connection integration with their current insurance carrier administration/billing platform. 
  5. Obtain the account structure form from your carrier to set up group numbers and plan IDs in BambooHR.
  6. Agree upon a desired activation date. The date is what you will enter in BambooHR to begin the automated data feed.

Details to discuss

For all carriers

  • Can I convert my current process to the BambooHR carrier connections process of automated data reporting?
  • What is the desired carrier connections start date?
  • When do you want the first file to be sent?
  • What is the plan year/benefits start date? Are they the same?

AND

For existing carriers

  • Carrier name
  • Carrier EIN
  • Are you offering the same plans?
    • What are the plan IDs?
  • Will you be offering new plans?
    • What are the plan IDs?
    • What are the coverage effective dates?
  • What is your current process of getting data to your carrier?

For new carriers

  • Carrier name
  • Carrier EIN
  • Are you offering the same plans?
    • What are the plan IDs?
    • What are the coverage effective dates?

Email template

Subject 

Regarding Benefits Enrollment with BambooHR Benefits Administration: [Provide your company name and group number] 

Copy 

Dear [Name], 

We are considering implementing BambooHR’s benefits administration solution and plan to convert our current process with you to BambooHR’s automated Carrier Connections. To do so, we need your help to complete the following information: 

  • Are we eligible to convert our current benefits administration process with you to the BambooHR Carrier Connections process of automated data feeds? BambooHR utilizes Ideon as its third-party data integration partner.
  • Please confirm your company EIN tax ID.
  • Please provide a copy of our account structure; we are looking to validate:
    • The group number associated with our account? 
    • The individual plan IDs associated with our account? 
    • The class codes if more than one associated with our account
    • Any zip code or unique eligibility requirements on a plan level
  • What do I need to do to make the transition from my current process to the BambooHR automated one? 
  • Once our connection testing is completed, what information/confirmation do we need to provide to you to push the connection into production?
  • Once our data sync is in production, what access levels do I have with my administration portal?

Please provide the requested information to me as soon as possible. 

Please note that we anticipate leveraging BambooHR's data integration partner, Ideon, to send you our enrollment and eligibility data.  They will be contacting you once our system is set up and ready for testing. Please do not reach out to BambooHR directly.

Thank you for your help with this. If you have any questions, please give me a call. 

Sincerely, 

[Your Name]


Setting up carrier connections

If you qualify for activating carrier connections, you will need to ensure that all of your benefits-eligible employees are part of a completed enrollment window. They may lose coverage or be excluded if they are not listed as a benefits-eligible employee in Benefits Administration. 

  1. Once you have the completed responses from your carrier, make sure your BambooHR account has a plan year set up with benefit plans (coverage effective dates, plan IDs, carrier details, etc.) and add the carrier's details (EIN, group number). This will help ensure accuracy in data reporting. 
  2. To avoid data errors, review the plan year on the Plan Years tab to make sure you have all required company, employee, and dependent data. If the plan year has missing data, you will need to add the correct information before having enrollment data sent to your carriers.
  3. After verifying the required information, you will need to run an enrollment window in your account for your employees to make their benefit elections for the plan year during open enrollment or select their current benefits if you are making a mid-year transition to Benefits Administration. This allows BambooHR to match data with your carrier when the connection is made.
  4. Approve all benefit elections for the enrollment window in your account.
  5. Send the completed responses from your carrier to [email protected]. They will forward the information to the Carrier Connections team.
  6. With this information, the Carrier Connections team will work with your carrier to send them a test file. 
    • Once they pass the test file, the Carrier Connections team will work with your carrier to set up the production file. 
  7. Once your file is in production, you will receive a notification if there are any file discrepancies. You will be responsible to fix any data errors in BambooHR by following the workflow listed below.
  8. After setting up the carrier connection, you can expect your enrollment data to be sent to your carrier automatically (typically on a weekly basis). 
    • Once enabled, the carrier connection will send enrollment data tied to the enrollment windows you create in BambooHR (i.e., open enrollment, new hire, qualifying life event). If you add a change to non-enrollment data, the carrier connection will still send the change to the carrier. Examples of non-enrollment data changes include salary, address, and dates of birth.
Updating missing data

If there is missing data within a plan year, a blue hyperlink will appear in the Employee Elections column for that plan year. BambooHR will take note of any missing employee and dependent demographics (SSN, address, state, etc.) and/or company information (ACA settings). Clicking Update Missing Info will bring up a new page that allows you to add the correct information before syncing enrollment data to your carriers.

The Update Required Member Information page will show a list of employees with specifics of what information each employee is missing. Navigate to an employee's row and click Update Missing/Invalid Info. Once you add the required information, be sure to save the changes by clicking Update Required Info.

If there is missing company information, another table will appear above the employee list. Clicking Update Company Info will take you to Settings > Account > ACA Settings, where you can configure ACA settings and add the required company information.

Resolving errors

If there are data discrepancies between BambooHR and the carrier's system, an error message will appear on the Benefits Management page. 

  1. Navigate to Settings > Benefits. On the Benefits Management page, click Resolve Errors. This will show a list of employees with errors. 
  2. Hover your cursor over an employee row and click Resolve Errors. A new modal will show you the type of error along with a description for that employee. 
  3. Navigate to their employee profile and make the correction. 
  4. Go back to the Resolve Errors page, and in the text box, describe the correction you have made for the employee.
  5. Click Send Resolution. This action will automatically send the updated data to our third-party data processing partner.

If you do not qualify for carrier connections, you can use the CSV data file export or PDF Form Builder. Including carrier connections, we offer this three-option approach, allowing you to determine the best option for submitting enrollment data to each of your carriers. 


Data sync details

The data will flow from BambooHR to your carrier based on your carrier’s data sync schedule and requirements. Data in BambooHR must match what the carrier has on record for each employee. If there are any discrepancies between the two systems, you can make the appropriate changes in BambooHR and have these changes sent to your carrier.

The following fields and settings should be complete before sending enrollment data to your carriers.

Field/Setting
Settings Employees enabled with ESS
Eligible employees in Benefits Administration
Employee Data First Name
Middle Name (if applicable)
Last Name
Date of Birth
SSN
Gender
Address
City
State
ZIP
Employment Status
Hire Date
Termination Date (if applicable)
Job Title
Salary
Pay Type
Pay Frequency
Dependent Data First Name
Middle Name
Last Name
Date of Birth
Relationship
SSN
Address
City 
State
ZIP
Gender
Benefit Plan Setup Carrier Name
Carrier EIN
Group Name
Plan Name
Plan ID
Start & End Dates (for ALL plan types)
Coverage options (and costs for standard rate plans)
Completed Enrollment Window All employees with their dependents and elections

FAQ
  1. Do I need to fill out an EDI questionnaire?
    • It depends on the carrier. For example, UHC and Principal require an EDI questionnaire form (supplied by our third-party integration partner, Ideon), but Aetna, Kaiser, and Anthem do not.
  2. Which file format is utilized?
    • We have an API connection to a third-party vendor, Ideon. They send individual files to the carriers, with the most common type being an 834 EDI file. However, a few carriers have an API with Principal, Kaiser, and Guardian.
  3. Can a termination date be submitted on each member record within a family that is equal to the last day of their coverage?
    • Yes, we send a coverage termination date for the employee subscriber and each of their dependent members, as defined by the plan setup.
  4. Do I need to provide the vendor name, contact email ID, address?
    • When the time comes to enable the connection, our Carrier Connections team will reach out to your carrier to provide any needed information. You will need to have the following items ready for the connection: 
      • Completed carrier answers to the eligibility template
      • All employee, dependent, and plan data
      • All employees enabled in Ben Admin and a completed enrollment window 
  5. Will the carrier connection only send enrollment data, or does it include other data points/non-enrollment data? 
    • A carrier connection will send enrollment data tied to the enrollment windows you create in BambooHR (i.e., open enrollment, new hire, qualifying life event). If you add a change to non-enrollment data, the carrier connection will still send the change to the carrier. Examples of non-enrollment data changes include salary, address, and dates of birth.
  6. Can terminated records be removed from the EDI file after the termination date has been transmitted once?
    • Yes.
  7. If I make a manual adjustment to an employee's benefits as opposed to coming from the enrollment process, will that adjustment still sync to the carrier?
    • Yes. 
  8. If an employee is terminated in BambooHR, will that termination record be automatically sent to the carrier connection? 
    • If you have a carrier connection with one of our partners and properly terminate the employee with their benefits, the termination record will be automatically sent to the carrier. To properly terminate an employee's coverage, you will first need to terminate the employee in BambooHR and then open a qualifying life event (QLE) window.
  9. Will the carrier connection still work if my company has remote employees in the U.S. while their benefits are based in a specific state?
    • The data feed will be aligned with where your company is located (domiciled).
  10. What happens if an employee does not get get on their insurance due to an API connection failure? What is your API service contract? 
    • We have SLAs in place to ensure data accuracy, and if something happens, there are remedies in place to correct the data. Even though we take on the transactional piece of sending data to carriers, you are not absolved of your responsibility to audit your employee count with the carriers (typically done through your monthly billing) and to bring any discrepancies to our attention so that we may act upon it.
  11. Does a carrier connection always have to be established when there is a direct relationship with the carrier?
    • With our three-pronged approach, you have the option to choose which approach to use for sending enrollment data, meaning we do not require you to select one option over another. You can select what is best for you and fits your company's needs.