Carrier Feeds: Getting Enrolment Data to the Insurer Without the Chaos
Your enrolment data is only useful if the insurer has it right. Carrier feeds are where benefits meets integration, and where coverage gaps hide.
You can run a flawless open enrolment and still have a mess if the insurer doesn't get the data cleanly. Carrier feeds, the flow of who's enrolled in what out to the providers, are where benefits configuration meets integration, and where a quiet failure means someone thinks they're covered and isn't.
Match the carrier's format exactly
Each carrier wants data their way, their layout, their codes, their cadence. The feed has to speak their language precisely, because a format they can't read is coverage they won't activate.
Handle changes, not just new enrolments
The feed must carry additions, changes, and terminations, not just fresh enrolments. A termination that doesn't reach the carrier means you keep paying for cover that should have ended, real money lost quietly.
Reconcile with the carrier regularly
Periodically check that what your system says matches what the carrier has. Discrepancies mean someone's coverage is wrong, and you want to find that before they do, at a hospital.
Real scenario: a client's carrier feed only sent new enrolments, never terminations. Months of leavers stayed 'covered' on the carrier's side and the client kept getting billed. A reconciliation found dozens. We fixed the feed to carry the full change set and added regular reconciliation. The billing corrected and the data got honest. A feed that only adds is a feed that quietly bleeds money.