Access the Messagepoint Video

Current Pressures in the Medicare Advantage Market

The session opens with a frank look at the market dynamics placing MAOs under strain. On one side, there’s mounting pressure to grow enrollment. On the other, shrinking margins, increasing CMS scrutiny, and persistent delays in the release of model documents and memos are compressing timelines and escalating workloads.

“These communications don’t just include ANOCs and EOCs,” Malik pointed out. “You’re also dealing with welcome kits, non-discrimination notices, multi-language inserts, and more—many of which must be delivered in multiple formats and languages.”

The result? Massive time pressure, skyrocketing costs, and staff burnout. “It’s not unusual for teams to be working 18-hour days and canceling vacations to meet deadlines,” Kehoe noted. “And even then, you’re incurring huge translation and desktop publishing costs just to stay compliant.”

Attendee poll results echoed these themes, with equal concern expressed for meeting deadlines, avoiding compliance errors, and preventing team burnout.

A Primer on Using AI for AEP document preparation

Before diving into specific applications, the speakers offered a high-level overview of generative AI—what it is, how it works, and where it fits in the AEP content lifecycle.

The focus was on large language models (LLMs), like those behind ChatGPT, which generate human-like text using statistical predictions based on vast training data. As Kehoe explained, “They work like a very junior employee—smart, fast, but lacking your domain expertise. They need supervision.”

Used properly, LLMs can help with content analysis, sentiment optimization, simplification to plain language standards, and translation. But Malik emphasized the importance of human oversight. “It can draft content quickly,” he said, “but it doesn’t know your plan-specific rules, your brand standards, or regulatory nuances. That’s where embedding AI within purpose-built tools becomes essential.”

Current Approaches to Managing AEP Communications

Organizations typically adopt one of four distinct approaches to managing their Medicare Advantage communications, each with specific advantages and limitations that impact scalability, cost, and operational efficiency.

• Desktop publishing tools like Microsoft Word require minimal training and offer immediate accessibility but prove manual, error-prone, and fundamentally non-scalable as organizations grow.
• Outsourcing reduces internal workload but introduces additional costs while limiting organizational agility, particularly when late changes from CMS require rapid adjustments to approved materials.
• Document automation tools provide better control over the creation process but often require ongoing vendor support and may not comprehensively cover the entire document lifecycle including peer review and quality assurance phases.
• Purpose-built solutions offer integrated approaches with prebuilt CMS layouts, data integrations, and compliance tools that make the entire process faster and more accurate while maintaining regulatory adherence.

Four Critical Areas where AI and Automation Can Help

The heart of the webinar focused on how purpose-built tools—especially those augmented with AI—can directly address the most painful aspects of AEP prep. The panel walked through four key areas:

1) Plan and Benefit Data Management

The problem: Organizations typically share plan benefit information internally through Excel files after filing completion, leading to multiple sources of truth and manual updates across various documents. This approach creates duplication of effort and introduces errors that directly impact compliance and consistency.

The solution: Using your PBP files submitted to CMS as the single source of truth for all your plan and benefit information while maintaining secondary sources for non-PBP information like contact details and premiums, enabling automatic updates across all communications when data changes occur.  As Malik explained, with this approach “you eliminate manual updates and errors. Changes made to the data propagate automatically across all documents.”

2) Content Management and Layout

The problem: Many organizations create separate templates for every plan and document, making updates cumbersome and error-prone across multiple versions.

The solution: Prebuilt templates with configurable zones that separate layout from content, creating a modular system that ensures consistency while providing flexibility to meet both CMS requirements and brand standards. Business rules automatically determine which content applies to specific plans based on filing data, while reusable content objects like customer service paragraphs and federal disclaimers can be applied across multiple documents and plans.

3) Quality Assurance and Reporting

The problem: Current workflows often involve chaotic processes with dozens of stakeholders, multiple review rounds, and tight deadlines where any slip can result in serious consequences including errata, fines, and damaged star ratings.

The solution: Platforms which include with role-based workflows, side-by-side version comparison, task assignment, audit trails, and real-time dashboards that provide leadership visibility while helping teams maintain focus and accountability. “With a centralized workflow and automated validation tools, teams can work faster and more confidently” noted Kehoe.

4) Translation

The problem: Having to wait until the English documents are finalized before sending PDFs out for external translation.

The solution: Translating approved modular content blocks in parallel with English updates, teams can work faster and ensure consistency across versions. This approach enables English and Spanish versions to be completed simultaneously and also eliminates redundant translation effort. “If a content block is reused across 30 documents, you translate it once,” Malik said.

AI can also help accelerate translation. A hybrid approach which leverages AI for initial passes followed by human review are far more efficient than human-led approaches and ensure the same level of accuracy. AI can even help improve accuracy: “Even if you’re using human translators,” said Kehoe, “AI can assist with accuracy checks, glossary enforcement, and identifying mismatches that humans may miss.”

The Impact of the Messagepoint Touchpoint Exchange

The webinar closed with a look at how Messagepoint’s Healthcare Touchpoint Exchange brings these innovations together into a single, integrated solution. Designed specifically for the Medicare Advantage market, the platform streamlines the full content lifecycle—from data ingestion to delivery.

Prebuilt templates for ANOCs, EOCs, and SBs are updated annually with CMS model changes. PBP and non-PBP data can be managed centrally. Content is modular and rules-driven. Translation and accessibility are built-in, not bolted on. And QA is embedded across every step.

“AI isn’t a silver bullet,” Kehoe reminded attendees. “But when you embed it into a purpose-built system, it becomes a force multiplier—giving your teams more time, better accuracy, and fewer headaches.”

Malik agreed: “This isn’t about replacing your people. It’s about helping them work smarter, reduce burnout, and deliver compliant, high-quality materials at scale.”

This is just a preview of the insights shared in this webinar. Complete the form above to watch the full recording.