An HR Administrator's Guide to Carrier Connections
Purpose: We offer a direct, automated process in sending enrollment data to your carriers from BambooHR through an integration we have developed with a third-party data processing partner. This help guide goes over setting up a carrier connection from start to finish.
Table of Contents
- Step 1: Review our carrier partners list
- Step 2a: Contact your carrier (on our list).
- Step 2b: Contact your carrier (not on our list).
- Step 3: Ensure benefits setup is complete
- Step 4: Work on a test file with BambooHR
- Step 5: Resolve any data discrepancies
- Step 6: Verify data transmission
- Frequently asked questions
To ensure a seamless installation experience, you will need to complete a few initial steps with your carrier and then start validating the connection with BambooHR. We have also created an email template for you to use for carrier communications. Read through this help guide to know what you need to complete during this process.
Once you have gathered all necessary details (Step 2a or 2b) from your carrier, please contact our Customer Support team to request a carrier connection. Our Support team will assist you with the next steps and ensure a smooth transition to setting up your carrier connection.
Step 1: Review our carrier partners list.
Before starting this process, verify that your carrier is one of our partners and that you meet their requirements. Click here to view the requirements for all of our carrier partners.
- If your carrier is not one of our partners, don’t worry! Proceed to Step 2b to learn more about requesting a carrier connection.
- If your carrier is one of our partners, proceed to Step 2a.
Step 2a: Contact your carrier (on our list).
This step is to confirm that your carrier will allow a connection. Contact your carrier to confirm your eligibility for a connection and request your plan details. You can use the email template below, fill out the placeholders, and send it to your carrier. We also recommend copying your broker on the email so they are aware.
Once you hear back from your carrier, you can use the information they provide to set up new benefit plans or verify existing benefit plans in BambooHR, according to your carrier-specific setup requirements.
Email template
Subject
Automated Data Feed for [Your Company Name] (Group # [Your Group number])
Body
Hi [Carrier Contact Name],
My name is [Your Name], and I am the [Your Title] at [Your Company Name]. Our group number is [Your Group Number].
Is our group eligible for an automated data feed to your platform? (Either an EDI 834 feed or an API connection). BambooHR is our benefits administration platform, and a third-party data integration partner would provide the feed.
If we are eligible, please send our plan summaries, rate sheets, and account structure details so we can ensure our setup is correct in BambooHR.
Thank you for your help.
Step 2b: Contact your carrier (not on our list).
If your carrier is not on our list, don’t worry! If you have at least 50 benefits-eligible employees, you can request a carrier connection. At this time, new connections are limited to the following insurance plan types:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Life
- Disability
- Accident
- Hospital Indemnity
- Critical Illness
- Cancer
We do not offer connections for HSA, FSA, retirement, or other benefits like pet or legal insurance at this time. If you are a BambooHR Payroll customer and you would like to set up an automatic feed to your HSA, FSA, or 401k vendor, please review this help guide.
We provide an email template (see below) to help you request a connection with BambooHR. You will need to send this template to your account manager at your carrier. Just fill out the placeholders, and add [email protected] in the CC line before sending it so our technology partner is included in the conversation.
- If your carrier agrees, our data integration partner will build the connection. We will work closely with you to ensure your account is set up with all the necessary benefits data. Once everything is ready, we will then assist you in syncing your data, resolving any data discrepancies, and activating your connection.
- If your carrier declines, you can use the CSV data file export and/or PDF Form Builder to send enrollment data.
Email template
Subject
Automated Data Feed for [Your Company Name] (Group # [Your Group number])
Body
Hi [Carrier Contact Name],
My name is [Your Name], and I am the [Your Title] at [Your Company Name]. Our group number is [Your Group Number].
Is our group eligible for an EDI 834 feed to your platform? BambooHR is our benefits administration platform, and Noyo (Cc’d) would provide the feed.
If we are eligible, please send our plan summaries, rate sheets, and account structure details so we can ensure our setup is correct in BambooHR.
Thank you for your help.
Step 3: Ensure benefits setup is complete.
It is imperative that all employees' enrollments and benefit data changes are submitted through an enrollment window, either by editing a previously approved election or by creating a new window. This process is crucial to establish a successful carrier connection, ensuring that all information is accurately and promptly communicated to your carrier.
If your carrier confirms the connection and provides all necessary information, you will need to add or update the carrier’s details on the Carriers tab and then have a plan year set up with benefit plans (coverage effective dates, plan IDs, carrier details, etc.) in your BambooHR account. This will help ensure accuracy in data reporting.After setting up the plan year, make sure you have all required company, employee, and dependent data for the specific plan year. BambooHR takes note of any missing employee and dependent demographics (SSN, address, state, etc.) and/or company information (ACA settings).
In addition to setting up benefit plans, we recommend enabling the Benefit Vendors Discrepancies email alert in BambooHR so your admins will receive an email alert if there are any data discrepancies between BambooHR and your carrier's system. From within the email alert, you can click to resolve errors and resend the correct data to your carrier.
If the plan year has missing data, you will need to add the correct information before having enrollment data sent to your carriers. Click Update Missing Info (blue hyperlink) to add the correct information.
The Update Required Member Information page will show a list of employees with what information they (or their dependent) are 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.
After verifying all required information, you can then run an enrollment window (with a selected plan year) for your benefits-eligible employees* to make their benefit elections 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. You will be able to review and approve your employees’ benefit elections once enrollment is complete.
*Benefits eligibility is determined in the benefit plan setup within your BambooHR account.
Step 4: Work on a test file with BambooHR.
Send the completed responses from your carrier to [email protected]. They will forward the information to the Carrier Connections team. 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.
Please be aware that the testing process and discrepancy review can take some time. It is normal to send several test files while we work to clear out any mismatched data in both systems. The timeframe for this configuration process can vary depending on the account's complexity and circumstances. During this stage, your carrier remains the system of record, meaning you must continue updating benefit data in both BambooHR and your carrier's system until the connection is fully activated (Connected).
Step 5: Resolve any data discrepancies.
Only Account Owners and Full Admin users can resolve errors. Custom access level users with access to benefits will receive an error message letting them know to reach out to their HR administrator for resolution.
If your connection is still pending on the Carrier Connection Issues page, please continue updating benefit data in both BambooHR and your carrier's system until the Connected status appears. While pending, any data discrepancies must be resolved on the Carrier Connections page before the connection can go live.
Once a carrier connection is live, BambooHR will automatically sync the following data with your carrier according to your carrier's sync schedule and requirements. Any changes you make to the following data in BambooHR will automatically sync to your carrier. If any discrepancies appear after the connection is live, you will be able to resolve them directly in BambooHR on the Carrier Connections Issues page.
| 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 (if applicable), 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 plans), Coverage Options, and Costs (for standard rate plans) |
| Enrollment Window | Completed enrollment window with benefits-eligible employees’ elections |
The Carrier Connections Issues page is accessible through the Resolve Errors button from two places in your BambooHR account:
- Settings > Benefits (as shown above)
- Benefits tab in the left sidebar menu
If you have enabled the Benefit Vendors Discrepancies email alert, BambooHR will automatically alert when a mismatch is detected. The email includes a link to view the issues on the Carrier Connections Issues page in BambooHR.
The Carrier Connection Issues page highlights any differences between BambooHR and your carrier's system so you can make sure both sets of data match.
At the top of the Carrier Connections page, you will notice a status banner that reflects the overall state of your carrier connections:
- Pending: This status is indicated by a gray banner with a message reminding you to keep updating data in both BambooHR and your carriers’ systems while you work through any discrepancies. At least one carrier connection is still in testing.
- Connected: This status is indicated by a green label, meaning that all carriers are active and syncing data to your carriers’ systems. Discrepancies can still appear and can be resolved directly on this page.
The Carrier Connection Issues page is also organized into three tabs: Election Demographic, Missing People, and Other, which you can use to filter issues by type.
- Election Demographic: Shows mismatches in benefit elections or employee demographic data between BambooHR and your carrier
- Missing People: Lists employees who appear in your carrier’s records but do not have a profile in BambooHR
- Other: Includes additional variances identified by our integration partner that do not fit the other categories
The Election & Demographic tab lists employees (and their dependents if applicable) with mismatches in their benefit election or demographic data. Issues are automatically sorted by urgency and then alphabetically by employee last name.
- Urgent issues must be resolved before the carrier can process coverage changes.
- Warning issues do not block coverage but may cause billing inaccuracies.
The Plan Year selector appears if you have discrepancies across multiple plan years and shows a count of issues next to each one. You can also use the Filter bar to search by employee name.
Click View in an employee’s row to open a new window showing the BambooHR and carrier versions of the data side by side. Review the details to find where the mismatch exists, and follow the inline messages to determine which system has the correct information and how to update the other system.
There are two possible workflows depending on which system has the correct information. If you need more time, select Skip for Now to review the next discrepancy.
- If BambooHR is correct, update the information with your carrier. Once you have made the change click If needed, you can choose Skip for Now to return at another time. Once updated, check “I have updated my carrier’s records” and click Mark as Resolved.
- If the carrier is correct, update the employee’s (or dependent’s) information in BambooHR and click Resolve and Update.
In the example above, the employee has a SSN discrepancy. You would need to select which system (BambooHR or carrier) has the correct SSN and then update the incorrect SSN in the other system.
After you resolve all errors for an employee, you will receive a celebratory message letting you know that the updated data has been sent to the carrier for review.
The Missing People tab lists employees who appear in your carrier’s system but do not have an employee profile in BambooHR. To start resolving this issue type, hover your cursor over the employee's row and click View.
Then, determine which system’s data is correct and follow the inline messages to complete the necessary updates, as explained in the previous workflow section.
The Other tab lists additional variances that do not fall under the other categories, and issues are sorted by carrier. To review an issue, hover your cursor over it and click View. Then, enter what you did to resolve the error. If you need further assistance, you can contact our Support team by clicking Contact Support. Once everything looks correct, click Mark as Resolved.
Step 6: Verify data transmission.
Enrollment data is tied to the enrollment windows you create in BambooHR (i.e., open enrollment, new hire, qualifying life event). If you make changes outside an enrollment window, the carrier connection will still send the change to the carrier. Examples include changes in salary, address, and dates of birth.
If your connection is still pending on the Carrier Connection Issues page, please continue updating benefit data in both BambooHR and your carrier's system until the Connected status appears. While pending, any data discrepancies must be resolved before the connection can go live.
- 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 partners), but Aetna, Kaiser, and Anthem do not.
- Which file format is utilized?
- We have an API connection with our third-party integration partners. They send individual files to the carriers, with the most common type being an 834 EDI file. However, our partners have an API connection with a few carriers, such as Principal, Kaiser, and Guardian.
- 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.
- Do I need to provide the vendor name, contact email ID, and 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 theeligibility template
- All employee, dependent, and plan data
- All employees enabled in Ben Admin and a completed enrollment window
- 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:
- 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.
- Can terminated records be removed from the EDI file after the termination date has been transmitted once?
- Yes.
- If I make benefit election changes for an employee through the admin approval page within an enrollment window, will the changes sync to the carrier?
- Yes.
- Will changes to an employee's benefit enrollment in BambooHR, made outside of the approval page, be sent to the carrier?
- Yes, any changes made to an employee's original benefit enrollment submission in BambooHR—whether through the employee profile, bulk enrollment, or importer—will be sent to the carrier.
The original submission from the enrollment window is sent to the carrier, and if you later make changes, the updated information will also be sent to the carrier. The initial enrollment submission remains unchanged and is not overridden. This process ensures a complete and valid data package is sent every time.
- Yes, any changes made to an employee's original benefit enrollment submission in BambooHR—whether through the employee profile, bulk enrollment, or importer—will be sent to the carrier.
- If an employee is terminated in BambooHR, will that termination record be automatically sent to the carrier connection?
- Yes, the employment status change and coverage end dates will automatically be sent to the carrier. However, we do not capture the termination reason for COBRA processing
- 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).
- What happens if an employee does not 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.
- Will beneficiary information for life insurance plans be automatically sent to the carrier?
- No. Beneficiary information is not currently synced to carriers through carrier connections.
- 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.
- How do I know if my carrier connection is live?
- You will see a banner at the top of the Carrier Connection Issues page showing either a pending or connected status. Pending means the connection is still in testing, while Connected means the carrier connection is live, making BambooHR the system of record.