Enrollment Specialist Volunteer Training Instructions Benefit Year 2015

Transcription

1 Enrollment Specialist Volunteer Training Instructions Benefit Year 2015 Overview Welcome, volunteers! You are the reason we can offer Insure Central Texas services to the Austin community! We thank you on behalf of our customers for your service and commitment to providing access to health coverage for those who need it. In order to provide Marketplace assistance, Insure Central Texas is legally required to ensure all enrollment specialists are trained and certified. Training will qualify you as a Certified Application Counselor (CAC), a federally-recognized designation. Training consists of both online and in-person parts. This handout explains how to access each part of the training, listed in the order in which it should be completed. 1) MLN (Medical Learning Network) Online Training: an online training created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that includes modules ranging from Marketplace eligibility to privacy standards to the enrollment process; estimated time is 5 hours 2) FC (Foundation Communities) Online Training: a series of instructional videos created by Foundation Communities staff to supplement MLN training; estimated time is 1.5 hours 3) FC (Foundation Communities) In-Person Training: one 3.5-hour session led by Foundation Communities staff to practice real-life scenarios and to teach you administrative processes. Completing these three parts of training will qualify you to sign up for shifts at one of our centers to assist customers. Once certified, we ask that you provide 30 hours of service to our customers between November 15 and February 15, on whatever schedule works best for you. Please contact Gwen Moore (gwen.moore@foundcom.org) if you have questions about training requirements. 1. MLN (Medical Learning Network) Online Training The first step of training is to complete online modules provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This website also provides training for other types of marketplace assistors such as Navigators and Brokers. It is important for you to complete the Certified Application Counselor (CAC) training. Foundation Communities does not control content or access on the MLN website. This handout provides instructions on how to access the website, but unfortunately we cannot handle technical problems that may arise. For technical questions, MLN@cms.hhs.gov. Step 1: Create an Account (if you have an account from last year, you can use that or create a new one) The online account you create will track the trainings you start and complete and provide a certificate upon your completion of the required tests. On the home page, click Create Account. 1

2 Complete all the fields with a red asterisk (*). Tips: Your password must be 8 characters long with at least one lowercase, one uppercase, one special character (!@#$%), and one number. User Type/User Role: select Certified Application Counselor Individual Market and SHOP 2

3 Organization Type: select Grantee Organization Organization: select Marketplace (NOT Foundation Communities or Insure Central Texas) You can choose English or Spanish as your primary language for the training. However, the Spanish version of the CAC training is not expected until sometime in October. Step 2: Find the Training Catalog After you create an account, you will go to a welcome screen that is mostly blank. Click on Training Catalog from the menu. Then select Certified Application Counselor. You will find a manual and the actual training. I recommend that you download the manual and briefly review its contents. Keep it handy because it will help you answer questions throughout the online course. Then, click on the Curriculum for Benefit Year 2015, which is the actual course for you to complete. Step 3: Enroll and Access the Curriculum This step is repetitious, so it is a little awkward. After you select the curriculum, click on the green Enroll button. 3

4 Then on the next screen you will need to select the green Access Item button. Step 4: Working Through the Modules Now you can click on the first module called Training Overview. Each time you start a module, you need to click the green Enroll and Access Item buttons to proceed (no need to change any settings). As you go through the course, the status column will show which modules you have completed. We do not require that you complete the optional modules, but you may find them helpful. You can complete the optional modules at any time, even after you begin working with customers. There are five tests as you pass through the required curriculum. They are NOT timed, and you can take them twice without having to repeat the module, so do not become anxious. They are simply assessments to ensure that you understand the information before moving forward. Important Warning: As you use the online modules, do not use your browser buttons to navigate the screens. Use only the next, back, and exit buttons provided on the website. When you complete a module, click the exit button on the webpage to move on. Otherwise, the website will not mark your completion and bookmark your place in the course. 4

5 Step 5: Completing the Curriculum Once you complete all the required modules, you will find a certificate in the Transcript (top menu) folder. Take a screenshot of the certificate showing that you have completed the Certified Application Counselor Curriculum and it to the volunteer coordinator, Gwen Moore (gwen.moore@foundcom.org). Please do not send the certificates for each individual module; send only the final certificate. It should look like the image below with your name and date of completion listed. 2. FC (Foundation Communities) Online Training Our staff created additional online videos to supplement the MLN training based on feedback from last year s volunteers. This training goes into more detail than the government s training. You can complete the training on a regular desktop computer or a mobile device. Keep in mind that the detailed information about the Affordable Care Act and the calculations for premiums and tax credits are meant to provide background on how the Marketplace website works with different clients. You do not need to memorize this information. The Marketplace asks for the information it needs and then makes calculations to determine eligibility and subsidy amounts. However, it helps for you to understand how the calculations are made and why different people receive different amounts of financial help from the government. You may also need to check the math if a situation doesn t seem right to you, but we have tools at the centers to help you do this, and you can always get help from on-site staff. 5

6 You can find the link to training on our resource webpage for volunteers: Click on FC Online Training. It will take you to the training homepage (see below). There are three main topic areas, and the training is designed for you to take them in this order: ACA 101, Enrollment, and Tax Overview. Click on the first topic, ACA 101. You will see the individual modules for the topic. Click on Take This Course. 6

7 At this point, you will be directed to log in. This will be a different log in from MLN. This step is important so that we can track your progress with the training. We recommend using the same address and password that you used for your MLN account so that you have fewer log in details to remember. Click the Register button at the bottom of the screen to create your account. Enter your address and create a password. The password must be 7 or more characters long. The Strength Indicator box will adjust as you create a password to tell you whether a password is easy or hard for someone else to guess. To make a password stronger, include a mix of numbers, special characters (!@#$), and uppercase/lowercase letters. Enter the special code in the box at the bottom of the screen. See the below image for more information on this step. Click Register to save your new account. Back on the log in screen, use your address and password to access the training. When you click on a module, it will take you to a screen that looks like the image below. Each module is separated into short segments to make it easier if you want to repeat certain parts. 7

8 Click the play button to start each segment. When the segment is over, click Next to move to the following segment. When you complete all the training modules, you are finished with online training! No need to send us a certificate; since we created these modules, we can track who has completed it. 3. FC (Foundation Communities) In-Person Training Volunteers must attend one 3.5-hour, in-person training led by Foundation Communities staff. The purpose of the session is to move beyond the basic information provided by the online training to ensure that you are prepared to assist customers. The session will focus on practical examples, troubleshooting, and administrative tasks such as signing up for shifts. You can register now for an in-person training session by visiting the Sign Up tab in your existing online profile at Look for the Insure Central Texas Training. We offer eight session times, some in North Austin and some in South Austin. Please register for one session only. A week before your scheduled session, you will receive specific directions for parking and finding the correct room. In-person sessions are scheduled as below: 8

9 Community Financial Center (the Foundation Communities building at 2600 W Stassney Lane): Oct. 25 (Sat), 9am-12:30pm Oct. 25 (Sat), 2pm-5:30pm Oct. 27 (Mon), 6pm-9:30pm Seton Medical Center Austin (1201 W 38 th St): Oct. 29 (Wed), 6pm-9:30pm Highland Mall (6001 Airport Blvd): Nov. 1 (Sat), 9am-12:30pm Nov. 1 (Sat), 2pm-5:30pm Nov. 5 (Wed), 6pm-9:30pm Nov. 6 (Thurs), 6pm-9:30pm Preparing to Meet Clients Following the in-person training, assuming you have completed the first two steps of training detailed above, you will be considered qualified to sign up for shifts at our centers. However, if you would like to shadow experienced volunteers prior to meeting with customers on your own, you are welcome to do so. Staff will discuss this option at the in-person session. 9