For Medicare call centers, the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) is the busiest stretch of the year. It runs from October 15 to December 7, and in that window call volume, buyer demand and scrutiny all rise at the same time. A floor that is still hiring, rewriting scripts or fixing routing in the second week of AEP loses calls it can never get back.
This checklist is the preparation we work through with floors before AEP opens. Use it as a starting point, adapt it to your campaigns and buyers, and have your compliance counsel review anything that touches scripts, disclosures or consent.
Two to three weeks out: people and seats
Lock your headcount plan
Start with the buyer side, not the hiring side. Ask each buyer what volume they expect to take per day during AEP, what hours they are open, and whether caps change by week. Then work backwards:
- Estimate how many calls you need to handle per hour at peak, per campaign.
- Decide how many agents must be logged in per hour to handle that volume without long queues.
- Add a buffer for absences, training time and attrition. AEP is long, and people get tired.
Write the plan down by hour and by day, so floor managers are staffing to a number rather than a feeling.
Train before you need the seats
New agents should finish training, pass a mock-call test and complete supervised live calls before October 15, not during the first week. A short training plan:
- Product basics for the campaigns they will take, in plain language.
- The approved script, practiced aloud until it sounds natural.
- Disclosures and consent wording, read exactly as written.
- How to handle callers who do not qualify, politely and without a transfer.
- The transfer process and the fallback when a buyer does not answer.
Pair each new agent with a strong agent for the first live shifts. Our first 30 days guide covers the same ramp-up approach for new floors.
Plan shifts around buyer hours
Buyers' open hours set your useful hours. Map every campaign's buyer hours against your shift schedule, in the caller's time zone, and make sure your strongest agents are on the floor during the busiest buyer windows. Agreeing on overtime and weekend rules now avoids last-minute arguments later.
Two weeks out: scripts and compliance review
Lock the final scripts
Get final scripts from every buyer, and confirm the version number and date. Then:
- Have your compliance counsel review each script, the disclosures and the consent wording against the current rules for Medicare marketing.
- Print or load the approved version for every agent, and remove old versions from desks and shared drives.
- Agree on a change process: if a buyer or counsel changes a line during AEP, who approves it, who briefs the floor, and from which shift it applies.
Rules for Medicare marketing are detailed and change from year to year. Do not rely on last year's script, and do not let agents improvise around required wording.
Confirm consent and recording
- Confirm that every traffic source sending calls to you has the consent your buyers require, and that you can produce proof when asked.
- Check that call recording is on for every campaign and that recordings are stored for as long as your buyers and your process require.
- Confirm that do-not-call requests are captured during the call and added to your internal list the same day.
If a source cannot explain how its consent was collected, do not route its calls into AEP campaigns until it can.
One week out: routing, tracking and caps
Test every number and every route
Place test calls through every tracking number and every route, at different times of day, and confirm:
- The call reaches the right campaign and the right queue.
- State, ZIP code and other filters work as the buyer spec requires.
- The transfer reaches the buyer and the buyer's agent can hear the caller clearly.
- After-hours and over-cap calls go where they should, not to a dead line.
- The call shows up correctly in your tracking and reporting.
Write down every test, the time, the result and who ran it. When something breaks during AEP, this record saves hours.
Confirm caps and fallbacks with each buyer
Ask each buyer, in writing, for daily caps, hourly caps if they use them, concurrency limits and their rule for overflow. Decide in advance what your floor does when a buyer hits a cap mid-day: pause the campaign, move agents to another campaign, or route to a backup buyer where your agreements allow it.
Agree on payment and returns
Confirm payout terms, invoice timing, the return window and what counts as a valid return for each buyer. AEP volume means AEP-sized invoices. Knowing the terms before the first call keeps cash flow predictable and disputes short.
AEP week: run the floor on a daily rhythm
Pre-shift briefing
Ten minutes before every shift:
- Today's campaigns, caps and buyer hours.
- Any script or rule change, with the exact wording.
- One good call from yesterday, played for the team.
- One common mistake, and how to avoid it.
Live monitoring
Floor managers should listen live through the shift, not only review recordings afterwards. Watch for long hold times, failed transfers and agents drifting from the script. Our daily floor checklist lays out a full shift routine you can use during AEP.
QA at higher volume
Increase QA review during the first weeks of AEP, especially for new agents and new campaigns. Add every returned or disputed call to the review queue. The QA scorecard guide explains how to score calls and turn results into same-day coaching.
The daily AEP report
Keep the end-of-day report short enough that it actually gets read. For each campaign:
- Calls received, calls handled and calls transferred.
- Billable calls and returned or disputed calls, with reasons.
- Average handle time and any unusually short calls.
- Agent attendance against the staffing plan.
- Issues found today and who is fixing them.
Share the same numbers with your buyers where your agreements allow it. Buyers who can see your numbers trust your floor faster and raise problems earlier.
A one-page AEP checklist
Print this and tick it off before October 15:
- Buyer volume, hours and caps confirmed in writing.
- Hourly staffing plan written, with a buffer.
- All new agents trained, tested and through supervised live calls.
- Final scripts received, reviewed by counsel and loaded for every agent.
- A change process for scripts during AEP agreed.
- Consent proof confirmed for every traffic source.
- Call recording and do-not-call capture checked on every campaign.
- Every tracking number and route test-called and logged.
- Over-cap and after-hours fallbacks agreed with each buyer.
- Payout terms, invoice timing and return rules confirmed.
- Pre-shift briefing, live monitoring and QA schedule set.
- Daily report template ready and shared with floor managers.
AEP rewards preparation more than effort. The work you finish in the next few days decides how much of the season your floor can actually take.