The Broker of Record letter is one page.
The transition isn't.

Changing brokers is simple on paper. One letter per carrier, no open enrollment window, no cost in most cases. What catches employers out is everything around it. The software your broker licenses in their name. The portals you can lose. The deadlines nobody claims while the handoff is in motion.

Phase 1 is on this page in full. Every item, free, no email. The other three phases are in the PDF below.

Phase 1, free Get the full PDF Phases 2-4 The five that get dropped The video series Read next

Phase 1 of 4 · Free, no email

Gather. Four to six months out.

Do this while you still have a cooperative relationship. The day after the letter is filed, your old broker’s motivation to dig through files goes to zero. Not out of spite. You’re just not their client anymore.

Plan documentsSPD, plan document, wrap document, SBCs, and current benefit summaries for every line.
A clean censusMost missedDate of birth, gender, zip, coverage tier, class, and salary if you have life or disability.The most requested file in the process, and the one that always takes three weeks to produce.
Carrier contracts and stop-loss policyThe full executed policy, not the proposal.The differences live in the endorsements, and the proposal doesn’t have them.
TPA / ASO agreementMost missedThe full administrative services agreement, with fee schedule, termination language, and run-out terms.This is the document that governs what happens when you leave. Most employers have never opened it.
PBM contract, every amendment and exhibitPricing and rebate guarantees, definitions, MAC terms, audit rights.
Two to three years of renewal historyNot the final rates. What was proposed, what you landed on, and the trend assumption behind it.Tells a new advisor more about your carrier relationship than anything else you can hand them.Related: what a broker should actually bring to a renewal
Form 5500s, and proof of the newer filingsGag clause attestation, RxDC submission, 1094-C and 1095-C. Get the confirmations, not a verbal.
Compensation disclosure from every providerNot just the broker. TPAs, PBMs and consultants owe you one too. Direct and indirect.
Claims data, if self-funded or level-fundedMost missedMonthly detail, large claimant report, pharmacy utilization. Two to three years.Without it nobody can analyze your plan. They can only quote it. That’s the broker you’re leaving.

That's phase 1. Nothing held back. Phases 2, 3 and 4 are in the PDF.

What's in the PDF

Three more phases. Work them in order.

The order matters more than the list does. Most of what goes wrong in a broker change goes wrong because something in phase two got handled in phase four.

Phase 2

Find out whose name is on it. Before you file anything.
A lot of what your broker provides isn’t advice. It’s licensed software on their agency agreement. Your name is on the account. Their name is on the license. When they go, it goes.9 items. Starting with: Benefits administration platform, Carrier EDI feeds.

Phase 3

Check for blockers, then file. The letters themselves.
The letter is one page and it is genuinely simple. These are the things that can actually get in the way, and none of them show up until you’re already moving.8 items. Starting with: Group captive membership, MGU-placed stop-loss.

Phase 4

The handoff. Three to six months.
The carrier change is fast. The handoff is not. Budget three to six months for a new advisor to be fully operational on a self-funded plan. Put a name next to every line below.7 items. Starting with: Compliance deadlines in the gap, Stop-loss reimbursement filings.

Start Here

The five that actually get dropped.

None of these show up until you're already moving. Every one of them is cheaper to handle before the letter is filed than after.

Your benefits admin platform is licensed to your broker, not to youEmployee Navigator, Ease, Selerix. Your broker is the platform’s customer. The account can leave with them.
A captive seat can be tied to your broker staying broker of recordRead the captive documents first: exit terms, notice period, collateral release, your share of the surplus, and whether you can reassign the stop-loss broker.
Your TPA and PBM don’t take a BOR letterThey aren’t carriers, so there’s no broker of record on them. You update those as plan sponsor, with a different document.Related: what a transparent PBM contract has to say
A stop-loss filing deadline missed in the handoff is real moneyNobody is careless. Both brokers assume the other one had it. The policy deadline passes either way.
You can be locked out of your own carrier portal on day oneBrokers routinely sit as primary administrator. Move it to someone who works for you before the letter goes in.

The Full Walkthrough

Three videos: why, when, and how.

I'm a broker. The process in this checklist is the exact process somebody would use to hire me, or to fire me. The series covers how brokers get paid and why it works against you, the red flags and the timing, and then the mechanics of the switch start to finish.