Getting started
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Quote Medicare Advantage and Supplement plans from 100+ companies and enroll your clients directly from the Spark platform.
If you want to start enrolling as soon as possible, set up your quote & enroll and then head over to:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
- You’ll receive access to your Sunfire Quote and Enroll account as soon as you are “Ready-To-Sell” with an Medicare Advantage contract with a carrier that supports enrollments through Sunfire (see a list HERE). As soon as your Sunfire account has been activated you’ll receive an email notification from the Spark team.
- Please note there is roughly a 5 business day turnaround from when you are confirmed as Ready to Sell and when you can expect to receive your Sunfire account.
Not sure if you have access, follow our Getting Started guide
If you are receiving an error message you’ll need to complete the setup steps to use our integration on your device. You can follow the steps to this process by clicking the button above.
Yes! Be sure to follow the browser set up steps that are outlined in the set-up button above to properly set up the device. It is recommended to test your Q & E access before bringing your I-Pad to a sales meeting.
Here’s a walkthrough on where you can find your PURL.
Ready to Sell
Here’s a list of carriers that are supported in Sunfire. You’ll need to be Ready to Sell with Spark as your upline to quote and enroll with a carrier in your Spark account. *please note there may be regional nuance to certain plan types like SNP plans and PDPs.
Here’s the steps for checking your RTS status!
- The carrier may not support Quote and Enroll in Sunfire at this time. See a list of supported carriers HERE.
- You may not be certified to sell that carriers policy in the corresponding state or plan year. You can confirm your current carrier and state appointment status’ in your Spark platform account HERE.
- Your ready-to-sell status has not been reported by the carrier and needs to be verified before being added to your account. You can confirm your reported contracting status in your Spark platform HERE. Please note: it may take up to a week after you complete your certification for Spark to receive your updated ready-to-sell confirmation.
- Helpful hint: Forward your official email from the carrier confirming your certifications were completed or a screenshot from your carrier portal with the following information visible-> the carrier name, your writing number, and appointed states. Please email this information to support@sparkadvisors.com.
Still not seeing your carrier appointment in Sunfire? Send us an email to support@sparkadvisors.com and include the carrier and zip code for your plan search and our team will troubleshoot further.
The carrier portal will be the best place to submit your application.
Quoting your Clients
If you are still not seeing a plan that you believe you should be seeing:
- Check that you are looking in the correct zip code, and that the plan is available in that zip
- Check that you are certified for that carrier and plan type in that state
- Note that neither Special Needs nor Med Supp plans will show on purl sites
- Make sure you have selected the correct plan type radio button- See screenshot below
- DSNPs are found under Special Needs
- MA-only (no drug coverage) plans are listed separately from MAPD plans under "Medicare Advantage"
PLAN TYPE RADIO BUTTON CURRENTLY SET TO "SPECIAL NEEDS"
If the above steps do not reveal the plan you are seeking, the plan may be suppressed. We are given orders from the carriers to suppress certain non-commissionable plans. As such those plans will not appear in our tool.
With any doubts, contact your manager/internal support and let them know the:
- Carrier
- Plan/Contract/Seg ID of the plan
- The zip code you are looking in
You'll be able to view your outbound Quotes on the "Quote & Enroll" page in the Dashboard tool. Once you your there you can click on "Communications" at the top of the page and you'll see any quotes you have sent. Here's a walkthrough.
From SunFire, you can email plan comparisons to yourself in order to save/print.
Follow the steps in this guide: Printing Client Plan Comparisons
Here’s a list of all of the plans in the SunFire databse:
- Prescription drug names/description general info data is sourced directly from Medicare.gov.
- Prescription pricing and formulary data from the carriers.
- Prescriptions are only listed in Sunfire’s database if they meet the criteria of being listed on formulary for at least 1 carrier.
You may manually add the provider during the enrollment application by clicking “Manually Add a PCP” where it asks for provider info if you indicate the client is choosing a PCP.
CLICK HERE to see a list of the states with Medicaid lookup.
It’s important to note, provider data may not always be 100% accurate and we strongly recommend confirming provider network affiliation directly with the carrier and/or provider before submitting an enrollment application.
Scope of Appointment
While the Spark platform does not currently send text’s directly, we have added a feature that allows you to send a hyperlink to your client via text.
To send a Spark Scope of Appointment via text follow these steps:
- Complete the Scope of Appointment for the intended contact
- In the “Signature & appointment completion date” section of the Scope, click “Send”
- Choose “Create link for SMS / chat” in the dropdown menu:
- Click “Create SOA Link”
- Click the url that appears under “SOA URL (click to copy)”
- Paste the link in a text message to the prospect you’d like to sign the scope.
Yes, the generic SOA can be found HERE
Permission to Contact (PTC)
- Permission to contact has an expiration date depending on what information the medicare beneficiary is seeking.
- For Medicare Advantage or prescription drug plans, permission to contact expires after 9 months. Medicare supplement product lines have a 90-day expiration date.
- Permission to contact MUST be established again after it expires even if ongoing contact is intended. The form of contact is also decided by the Medicare beneficiary, whether it is by phone call, email, direct mail, etc.
Application Submission
After an enrollment is complete, SunFire submits it to the corresponding carrier. Anthem and Humana are sent real time while all other carriers are sent nightly, around 10pm EST. Once the carrier receives the enrollment it is processed then routed to CMS.
After you've submitted an application with the new tool you'll be able to view the app in two places.
- By clicking on the three dots that appear in the new policy on the contacts page, and clicking "View":
- By heading to the "Dashboard" page and clicking on the "Quote & Enroll" button on the top of the screen. This will launch the integration and provide your enrollment history for all of your contacts.
You’ll be able to view any submissions through your PURL on the “Quote and Enroll” on the the "Dashboard" page in the Spark platform and clicking on the "Quote & Enroll" button on the top of the screen. This will launch the integration and provide your enrollment history for all of your contacts.
*please note that any submission through your PURL will not register in the corresponding contact in Spark. Any policy applications submitted through your PURL will need to be manual created in your Spark contact profile.
The Spark Quote & Enroll tool does not currently pull in a member’s contacts ID after a plan application is approved. Spark Quote & Enroll does not integrate with carrier portals.
While the Quote & Enroll tool does house some Dental Provider data, it is not comprehensive. It is not recommended to solely rely on the dental provider information in the tool. If you do have any concerns with dental provider information as it appears in our tool, please utilizing our Support Request feature and our team will confirm any information needed!
You'll be able to view your submitted applications in the "Dashboard" page. Here's a walkthrough on how to get there!
If an app is not on your book of business or you have not been paid, follow these steps, in order:
- Check that there are no errors on the app and that the app was submitted successfully (see “How do I know if there’s an error on an app?”)
- Check that it has been 10 business days since the app was submitted
- Check that the member wasn’t already enrolled in the same plan
- Call the carrier’s Agent Support Line to inquire. Sometimes the carrier will say “we have no record of the app” if the app was denied, so if they say that, you should ask the carrier if the app has been denied.
- If none of these steps identify the issue, contact your manager.
Carrier processing times are often faster than 10 business days, but they are out of our control and depend on what is going on internally at the carrier and time of year. We send apps to the carriers daily, and in some cases instantaneously.
Most of the errors you'll see are self-explanatory. Here are some of the trickier ones:
"App Not Signed"
- The customer did not e-sign within the 24 hours they had to do so.
- A new app will have to be written and signed.
- Soon we will enable a way for you to re-send signature requests when this is the case.
"Invalid SEP Code"
- Another, valid SEP code will have to be selected
- Sometimes rather than Codes, you may see SEP “Reasons” such as “I recently turned 65.” This is what this error is referring to, and a different, valid reason will have to be selected
"GatewayTimeout"
This error from the carrier means that the carrier's server was not available at the moment the "Submit" button was clicked. The app was NOT submitted. The carrier advises us that in this case, the agent should continue to re-attempt submission throughout the rest of the day until they receive the error message "Application is already submitted."
"Application is already submitted"
This error message was not designed by us, and comes from the carrier.
The carrier states that if an agent receives this error message, it means that the carrier has the app and that it is being processed. If you have any doubts, contact your manager.
"Unknown Error" or "General Exception"
The carrier tells us that these error messages most likely mean one of three things:
- The carrier's server was unreachable at the moment the "Submit" button was clicked
- An invalid SEP code may have been selected
- There may be an issue with your certifcation to sell the plan or your writing number
Here’s what to do:
- Try submitting again right away, while your customer is on the phone
- If that doesn't work, double-check the validity of the SEP code selected for the customer's situation
- If that doesn’t work, end your call with customer and make sure you are certified to sell this plan in the state selected.
- If you are certified, try submitting again later in the day and contact your manager with difficulties. See our post “How do I send a new link to e-sign?” if applicable
Carriers do not accept supplemental benefit applications through SunFire. Clients will need to submit riders and applications through the carrier portal.
Our partners at Pinnacle Financial Services offer paper submission support via fax. To submit an application to the via fax, attached for the cover document to utilize their paper enrollment service via fax.
- 267-386-8137
- 267-386-8138
- 267-386-8139
- 267-386-8140
Please use the below document as the cover letter for your applications.
You can also send via email to enrollments@pfsinsurance.com. See attached for their instructions to submit via secure email.
If you would like to submit paper apps directly to our carrier partners, see instructions per carrier HERE.
If an app is not on your book of business or you have not been paid, follow these steps, in order:
- Check that there are no errors on the app and that the app was submitted successfully (see “How do I know if there’s an error on an app?”)
- Check that it has been 10 business days since the app was submitted
- Check that the member wasn’t already enrolled in the same plan
- Call the carrier’s Agent Support Line to inquire. Sometimes the carrier will say “we have no record of the app” if the app was denied, so if they say that, you should ask the carrier if the app has been denied.
- If none of these steps identify the issue, contact your manager.
E-Signature Requests
E-Signature links will expire after 24 hrs. See below for how to resend an e-signature link.
You'll be able to access your enrollment application history on the Dashboards page.
Click on the "Quote and Enroll" dashboard at the top of the page.
Find the application that you’d like to resend the signature request to. Click on the three dots and click “Resend e-Signature request” in the dropdown menu.
You can view a video tutorial on the E-Sign experience for your clients HERE
e-Signature Link Invalid (Texted Link)
If the customer gets an error “Invalid link” when clicking an e-sig link on their phone, it is likely due to the fact that settings in their phone break up long text messages. This can break up the link they need to click.
We recommend sending them a new link via email when this happens: see “How do I send a new link to e-Sign?”
If they must receive the link via text, they need to adjust certain settings in their phone, depending on the phone they have.
Try having them take these steps, then sending them a new link:
- Make sure they have cellular data turned on, or are connected to wifi
- For iPhone users, have them turn iMessage on
- For android users, the setting typically has to do with MMS vs SMS. They should select MMS rather than SMS.
e-Signature Miscellaneous Troubleshooting
Space in Name Error:
- Sometimes seniors mistakenly type a space at the end of their first or last name. The tool will throw an error in this case.
- Ask them to delete the space at the end of their name
- If that doesn't work, have them enter their name again letter-by-letter, not using auto-correct and ensure they don’t enter a space at the end of their name
Birthdate Error:
- The birthdate they enter into the link must match the birthdate as it was entered into the app
- If the birthdate they are entering is different from the one in the app, then either they are mistyping their birthdate or the birthdate in the app has to be updated. See the steps in “how do I re-send a link to e-Sign?”
Blank Screen After Clicking Link:
- Have them try again in a different browser, preferably Chrome
- Try having them clear their cache/history and click the link again
HRA
Sunfire Integrated HRAs
- Aetna - must be completed 60 mins after enrollment is signed
- Anthem - must be completed 7 days after enrollment is signed
- Cigna - AEP - must be completed before December 22 , 2023
- Humana - must be completed 30 days after enrollment is signed
- United Healthcare - must be completed 3 days after enrollment is signed
- WellCare - must be completed 90 days after enrollment is signed. HRA available for only DSNP and CSNP plans.
Carriers to that do not support integrated HRA
- Alignment
- Banner - HRA Agent Guide
- Devoted
- Molina
- New steps when using iCario Connect
- March 2023 Release
- SCAN - SCAN does not offer an HRA incentive for agents but does offer an AEP Incentive
- Kelsey Seybold
- HSHC
- Universal
Yes the following carriers are slotted to have integrated HRA in our tool:
After an application is submitted, there will be a "Start HRA" button on the application if there is an integrated HRA for that carrier.
Agents will be able to complete the HRA there or see the HRA on the Quote and Enroll page on the Dashboard page in the Spark platform.
Quote & Enrollment Compliance
All plans an agent is RTS for will show on the clients end. All required documents and disclosures are available to the client on the quote itself.
As the client is enrolling themselves into the plan it takes out a lot of the compliance aspect. The agent should still do a SOA before sending the client a plan proposal, however if they only send out a PURL, a SOA would not be required as it is similar to if the customer just went onto a Direct to Consumer site.
SunFire is adding support to address the new law* requiring all insurance producers to include their California license number on external facing communications. This accounts for comparison emails, esig emails, and confirmation emails from SunFire. *See the CA License # doc for more details.
NOTE: Agents will need to take action to add their CA License Number to their profile.
- Step 1. Navigate to the gear icon located in the bottom right corner of the screen. (If you are unable to see this button, please notify your Account Manager)
- Step 2: Under “Your Information” add the appropriate CA license number
- Step 3: Scroll to the bottom of the page to save changes.
DSNP
Yes, you’ll be able to access available Dual/Special Needs plans in Spark Quote and Enroll by selecting the “Special Needs” filter after generating a quote. Please note that not all Special Needs plans may be listed your particular area. Carriers may chose to suppress certain Special Needs plans from our quoting tool and will require the plans to be written in the carrier portal. ‘
Here’s a walkthrough on looking up Medicaid Status in Sunfire
The following states offer medicaid eligibility look up on the “Special Needs” quoting page:
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Florida
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Washington
- West Virginia
Medicare Supplements
At this time, Sunfire has limited Medicare Supplement integration. There will be may appear when you select that filter option, however, they will redirect you to the carrier if you click on ‘Details’, so you can use your agent portals for Medicare Supplement enrollments.
If you would like to use a more robust Med Supp tool you can access CSG Actuarial at the link HERE.
Carrier-Specific Instructions
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