NextAgency simplifies the management and automatic sending of consent forms, ensuring compliance with federal regulations for Consent to Contact and Scope of Appointment/Permission to Contact forms. Follow these steps to set up and manage your consent forms efficiently.

Getting Started

1. Update Agency Profile

• Navigate to your agency’s profile. Click your portrait in the upper right-hand corner and go to Settings > Agency Settings > Profile.
• Complete the following fields which are used to populate your consent forms:
  • Agency Owner
  • Agency Phone Number
  • Agency Email Address
  • Agency National Producer Number (NPN)

• Ensure that all Broker of Record information is accurate. Each Broker of Record should:
  • Click on their portrait and select View Profile
  • Under the State Licenses tab, ensure the NPN field is filled. If necessary, click Add NPN to enter or update this information.
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2. Setting Up Consent Form Workflows

• Go to Settings > Automations > Workflows.
• NextAgency provides sample workflow templates. Customize these or create your own.
  • Customize: Click Edit from the Actions menu.
  • Create: Click Add Workflow to create a new one.

• Creating a Workflow:
  • Enter a name and description for your workflow, then click Continue.
    
    
    
    
  • Select Case-Specific from the 'Workflow Type' drop down menu.
  • In the 'Trigger When' field choose Consent Form Required.
  • In the 'Form Type' field select 'Consent to Contact' or 'Scope of Appointment/Permission to Contact.'
  • Then use the filters to select the cases to receive these forms. Click 'Continue' to proceed.
  • Click Continue to save your new workflow

• In the Actions Step
  • Click on the Add Action button and select the appropriate option.
    • Add Consent Form Email will send the form as an editable PDF for your prospect or client to complete. Once they sign the PDF they can return it to you as an attachment.
    • Add Docusign Form Email will send the form through Docusign for your prospect or client to complete and digitally sign. (Please note, there is a $3.00 per Docusign document package).
  • Complete the relevant email fields, including the subject and sender email.
  • Specify the recipient and set the trigger date for when the email should be sent. Setting the due date value to zero sends the email immediately upon changing the Consent Form field to required in the Case record.
  • Customize the body of your email using existing email templates or create a new one with our receiver fields.
  • Click 'Save as Draft' to save your workflow, but not activate it. Click on 'Save and Activate' to implement your workflow.

Please refer to this article for detailed instructions on using consent form workflows.

If you need any assistance, please get in touch with our support team.

NextAgency can help you quickly obtain the consent forms required by federal regulation. This article explains how to use workflows to automate this process.

The Consent Form field in Case records determines whether a Consent Form Workflow is implemented. (Click here for an article on setting up these workflows).

Setting the Consent Form Field on a Specific Case

1. Open a Case record. Click the Edit link in the Details section of the Summary tab.



2. In the Consent Form field, choose the appropriate option.

3. If 'Required (Consent to Contact)' or 'Required (Scope of Appointment/Permission to Contact)' is selected, a new field labeled 'Send Form' will appear. Choose to send the Consent Form as an interactive PDF or in a Docusign packet which enables digital signatures. PDFs are sent for free; Docusign packets incur a fee (see below).




When the workflow is activated the appropriate consent form will be sent to your prospect or client. The Consent Form field will automatically update to Sent once the email is dispatched.

Setting the Consent Form Field on Multiple Cases

Select the checkbox next to each case record you wish to update. The Bulk Actions button will appear in the header. Choose Set Consent Form Status from the Bulk Actions drop-down menu



Where to Find the Completed Docusign Form

Once the user signs the Docusign form, both the sender and the recipient will receive an emailed copy of the completed document. Your copy of the completed forms will be available in the 'Files' tab, within the 'Consent Forms' folder of the signer's case record.




IMPORTANT NOTICE: Forms sent as interactive PDFs may be completed on your prospect or client's computers. They must print, sign, and return the PDF to you. Using PDF forms is free.

 

Forms sent through Docusign may be completed and signed online. There is a $3.00 per Docusign packet fee to cover what Docusign charges NextAgency. A pop-up, shown below, will notify you of the estimated number of Docusign packages your bulk action will generate, helping you anticipate the associated cost.


For more information or assistance, please contact our support team.

NextAgency helps you comply with Section 202 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”). This regulation places obligations on both you and your clients. We strongly recommend you seek guidance from experts to ensure compliance with these requirements. The National Association of Benefits & Insurance Professionals (NABIP) provides valuable information free of charge to its members and can be a helpful resource.

Section 202 requires you to disclose the compensation you expect to receive on a policy under certain circumstances. Regulations spell out the form and content of a Compensation Disclosure Form. NextAgency helps you create this form. However, we can only populate the form with information you provide. This means it's important that you complete specific fields when entering Benefits information as NextAgency uses these fields to generate your Compensation Disclosure Forms.

• Compensation Formula Field: Since a group's premiums may fluctuate from month-to-month, it is challenging to predict the precise commission you expect to earn on their policy. To address this challenge, regulators permit you to report the commission schedule used to calculate your compensation (e.g., 5% or $10 per employee per month). Enter this schedule in this field.

NextAgency can calculate the commission you expect to earn on a policy and use the result to determine if this policy should be included in your Compensation Disclosure Form. To use this calculation you will need to enter the:

• Expected Commission Field: Enter the commission you expect to earn each time your client pays their premium in this field.
  
  
• Payment Frequency Field: Enter how often your client pays premium in this field
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• Expected Annual Commission Field: After saving the data you have entered in the Benefits page, NextAgency will calculate this field by multiplying the Expected Commission Field with the Payment Frequency Field. If this amount is $1,000 or more this policy will be included in your Compensation Disclosure Form for this client. If the amount is less than $1,000 it will be excluded from the report unless the Disclosure Required Field is set to Yes.
  
  
• Disclosure Required Field: You may instruct NextAgency to ignore the Compensation Disclosure Form in determining whether a policy is included or excluded in the form with this field. When set to Yes, the policy will be included even if the Expected Annual Commission Field is less than $1,000. Setting this field to No excludes the policy from the form even if the Expected Annual Commission Field is $1,000 or more. If left blank, the Expected Annual Commission Field determines whether the policy is included in the form.
  
  

Generating Compensation Disclosure Forms

NextAgency will create a Compensation Disclosure Form for each of your clients based on what you have entered in the above fields.

i. Access the Reports section by clicking on "Reports" in the blue navigation pane.

ii. Under the Agency section, select "Comp Disclosure Form (Group)" and click on "Create."




iii. If desired, you can apply filters by clicking on the "Filters" button. For example, you can filter by "Broker Of Record" or generate a disclosure form for a particular client.

iv. By default, the "Disclosure Required" and "Annual Commission" fields are pre-set under the Benefits filter tile. You can modify these values if necessary.

v. Once you have set the desired filters, click on "Run" to generate a zip file containing Word documents for each of your clients that fit the disclosure requirement criteria and include all relevant Benefits information.

NextAgency generates Compensation Disclosure Forms in Word to make it easy to review and edit the form. For example, NextAgency cannot populate information concerning "other compensation" because this data is not tracked in NextAgency. You may also add your agency's logo or other graphic elements as you see fit. You should print the form as a PDF before sending it to your client.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact the NextAgency support team.