4 steps to send your rate letter during open enrollment
Medicare Advantage plans enroll members for 2027 from October 15 to December 7, HealthCare.gov plans from November 1 to January 15.
Co-founder, JotPsych
Your rate letter to a health plan is drafted: raise the rates, or your practice leaves the network. Send it while the plan is selling 2027 coverage with your clinicians in its network.
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 |
- Oct 15 to Oct 31: Medicare's Open Enrollment Period only
- Nov 1 to Dec 7: Medicare's and HealthCare.gov's open enrollment
- Dec 8 to Jan 15: HealthCare.gov's open enrollment only
Medicare's Open Enrollment Period runs October 15 to December 7, and HealthCare.gov's runs November 1 to January 15. Send each plan your rate letter inside that plan's own period, while the plan enrolls members for 2027.
- Find your contract's termination window. Read each contract. Mark the notice period and the dates when notice counts. Payers don't make termination windows easy to find, said Doral Jacobsen, a payer contracting consultant. "It's like the fourth full moon, two hundred ninety three days notice, but you can only do it in May."
- Name one owner for each payer. "If everyone's responsible, nobody's responsible," Jacobsen said. One person has to "own the payer contracting relationship," in her words. List each payer with its renewal date, its termination window, and the name of the person who owns the payer.
- Count each Medicare Advantage plan's members your clinicians saw in the past three years. Under a federal rule, the plan must write to each of those members at least 45 days before your clinicians leave its network. Start your count with your active patients in the plan.
- Send your letter during the plan's open enrollment. Jacobsen ties termination windows to open enrollment: payers "hate getting letters at that time. So use it." Medicare's Open Enrollment Period runs October 15 to December 7, and HealthCare.gov's runs November 1 to January 15, though state-run Marketplaces set their own dates.
From the Code of Federal Regulations, title 42, section 422.111(e), read October 3, 2026. Each member who saw the departing provider in the past three years gets the notice, so your termination notice gives the plan a reason to answer your rate request.
Put your count in each letter to a Medicare Advantage plan. Each member your clinicians saw in the past three years gets a written notice from the plan if your clinicians leave its network.
JotPsych's Patient Directory report lists your active patients, each with current insurance.
See JotPsych- Doral Jacobsen, chief executive officer of Prosper Beyond, “Strategic Revenue Cycle Workplan Design for High-Impact Payer Engagement,” workshop WS1, Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) 2026 Annual Conference, San Antonio, September 27, 2026.
- Medicare.gov, Joining a plan, read September 30, 2026: the Open Enrollment Period, October 15 to December 7.
- HealthCare.gov, Dates and deadlines, read September 30, 2026.
- Code of Federal Regulations, title 42, section 422.111(e), changes to provider network, via the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, read October 3, 2026.