The same five stages every year are what make one year comparable to the next.
Nothing here is improvised. What changes is how long each stage takes.
Set, test, negotiate.
The decision stages.
Set the Datum
Four documents, six if you are 50 or more, repriced on a held census.
Test the Market
The carrier’s written ask goes to the market and we price alternatives.
Negotiate
Alternates requested in writing, credits asked for, the decision held until the number is right.
Implement and carry the year.
The follow-through.
Implement
Eligibility files, ID cards, the build and open enrollment run as a project.
Carry the Year
Claims, billing and compliance come off your desk and onto ours.
Repeat
The sequence runs again next year, from the new datum.
Why it is built this way.
Consistency is the point.
Same on Any Size
The same sequence runs on a twelve-life group and a four-hundred-life group.
Comparable Years
A repeated process produces comparable results.
Method and Platform
DATUM is our method and the connected-record platform behind it.
Questions Employers Ask About This
Does it change by group size?
How long each stage takes changes, not whether it happens.
Where can I read more?
Our method page lays out all five stages.
What if we are mid-year?
We can start at any stage and set the datum from the documents you have.
Related guides.
From Renewals to Results: The Broker Playbook
The full playbook.
Benefits Indicators to Review All Year, Not Just at Renewal
Measures reviewed all year.
The Service Team Behind Your Account
Who works on your account.
Want this applied to your renewal?
Send us the renewal and we will run it through DATUM and show you where the number comes from.
Your renewal letter
Your census
Your current plan documents
Your renewal date
Rough answers are fine. We build the numbers from there.
Laws and rules referenced
Employee Benefit News: Renewals to Results — Opinion piece on brokers moving from plan shopping to data-driven advisory work.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
Switch to CFH. Unhappy with your broker? Your employees won’t notice. You will. →
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