Last updated: September 9, 2026
This page summarizes federal requirements and is not legal advice. Confirm every requirement with the current CMS text and your own counsel.
What CMS requires you to record
CMS requires third party marketing organizations to record all Medicare marketing and sales calls in their entirety, including the audio portion of calls held over web based technology. Under the CY2027 final rule effective October 1, 2026, those recordings are retained for six years, with audio required for the first three.
The rule says it in one sentence. 42 CFR 422.2274(g)(2)(ii) reads: "All marketing and sales calls, including the audio portion of calls conducted via web-based technology, must be recorded and retained in their entirety for a minimum period of 6 years."
Six years is the new number and it takes effect October 1, 2026. The Part D counterpart sits at 42 CFR 423.2274.
That lands two weeks before the Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15, so your floor learns the new timing during its busiest three weeks.
Who counts as a TPMO
42 CFR 422.2260 defines a third party marketing organization as "organizations and individuals, including independent agents and brokers, who are compensated to perform lead generation, marketing, sales, and enrollment related functions as a part of the chain of enrollment."
Read plainly, that covers an independent agency, an FMO, a lead vendor transferring live calls, and an outsourced center taking AEP overflow. Anyone paid to move a beneficiary along the chain of enrollment is inside the definition until counsel says otherwise.
Which calls fall inside the requirement
The regulation says marketing and sales calls, all of them, in their entirety. Several agent facing summaries published in 2026 describe a narrower requirement tied to enrollment calls, which would leave a lot of first touch conversation outside the obligation.
The text supports the broad reading, with no carve out for conversations before an application comes up. To be fair to the narrower view, the paragraph sits inside a subsection about TPMO oversight within the chain of enrollment, which is where the confusion comes from. Take it to your upline and your own counsel rather than a blog post, this one included.
How long recordings have to be kept
The retention paragraph is specific about format as well as duration. Records must be maintained in audio format for the first three years, and as audio or complete and accurate transcript recordings for years four through six.
| Record type | Retention | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing and sales calls, years 1 to 3 | Part of a six year minimum | Audio required |
| Marketing and sales calls, years 4 to 6 | Part of a six year minimum | Audio or a complete and accurate transcript |
| Enrollment records | 10 years | Per the enrollment record rules, unchanged by the marketing and sales retention reduction |
The previous marketing and sales retention period was ten years, so the cut to six is a real reduction in storage cost. Enrollment records sit on their own ten year path, which makes a blanket rule of deleting everything at six years a mistake.
The TPMO disclaimer, and when it has to be said
The disclaimer requirement lives at 42 CFR 422.2267(e)(41), which 422.2274(g)(2)(iv) points TPMOs to. For an organization that does not represent every plan in the area, the required language reads:
"We do not offer every plan available in your area. Currently we represent [insert number of organizations] organizations which offer [insert number of plans] products in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options."
A second version at the same paragraph applies to a TPMO representing all MA organizations in its area. Use the current CMS language exactly.
The timing changed. 42 CFR 422.2267(e)(41)(ii) requires the disclaimer to be "Verbally conveyed during sales calls prior to the discussion of any benefits," replacing the earlier standard tied to the first minute of the call. The current text also carries no State Health Insurance Assistance Program referral. An agent trained to open with the disclaimer is fine. The harder case is one trained to fit it inside sixty seconds, because the trigger now moves with the conversation. More on what the TPMO rules require on the call itself.
Scope of Appointment after October 1, 2026
The 48 hour waiting period between the Scope of Appointment and a personal marketing appointment is eliminated. An SOA is still required, agreed and documented before plan specific discussion begins, so only the delay goes away.
The recording notice and state law
CMS is not the only body with an opinion about recording a call. Two party consent states require notice or consent from the person on the other end whether or not a federal marketing rule applies, and an agency calling across state lines answers to the rules of every state it dials into. The safest posture is one script that satisfies the strictest state on your list.
Permission to contact
Prior express written consent governs whether you could call at all, upstream of everything here. Consent is scoped, and one captured for a Medicare Supplement lead does not extend to a Medicare Advantage conversation.
Confirm the current standard with counsel. This part of the rulebook has moved most often in the last two years.
What changed for contract year 2027, in one table
| Item | Before | Under the CY2027 rule, effective 2026-10-01 |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing and sales call retention | 10 years | 6 years, audio for years 1 to 3 |
| Enrollment record retention | 10 years | 10 years |
| TPMO disclaimer timing | Within the first minute of the call | Before any discussion of plan benefits |
| SHIP referral inside the disclaimer | Required | Removed |
| Scope of Appointment waiting period | 48 hours before the appointment | Eliminated, SOA still required before plan specific discussion |
Holding the recording is not the same as knowing what is on it
Every Medicare agency we talk to is already recording. The dialer records, the bucket fills, the retention policy is written down somewhere. Then a plan partner asks what percentage of last season's calls carried the disclaimer before benefits came up, and nobody knows, because nobody listened to enough of them to say.
Say an agency runs 25 agents through AEP, each taking 40 calls a day across the 54 days of enrollment. That is 54,000 recorded calls. Reviewing one or two calls per agent per week, the volume commonly assumed for agency QA and a figure we have not independently measured, gets you about 400 reviews over eight weeks, under one percent of the season. Every vendor quotes some version of that ratio, so the number is background here.
The useful question is narrower: which second of the call the disclaimer started on, and whether a benefit was named before it. Once the audio is transcribed with timestamps, that has a mechanical answer on every call, because the required disclaimer is a fixed phrase.
CallSniper was built for that part. Calls are ingested after they end, transcribed and diarized, then scored against a scorecard you define. The vocabulary library holds required phrase sets, so the disclaimer becomes something the system detects rather than something a reviewer listens for. A call where benefits came up first can be set as a critical fail, which surfaces it in week one instead of at quarter end. Searchable transcripts with timestamps make the evidence for a score a link to the moment.
Two honest limits. Machine scoring is strong on rule based criteria like whether a required phrase was said and when, and weaker on whether an agent sounded pushy (Aircall and StackAI both make this point about AI scoring generally). The second limit is the script itself. If the disclaimer wording in your account script is wrong, scoring 54,000 calls tells you it was wrong 54,000 times, which is useful and also too late.
A scoring system produces evidence. Compliance comes from the regulation and your plan contracts, and no vendor hands it to you.
Manual upload handles a folder of last season's calls without touching your dialer, which is how you get a real number from calls you already hold. Trinsic runs its own model on its own infrastructure, so audio does not go out to a public model provider, which matters when a recording carries a beneficiary's name and plan details. More on call QA for Medicare agencies.
A compliance checklist for AEP
- List every phone path that can carry a marketing or sales conversation: the main line, agent cell phones, the web meeting platform, any overflow center transferring live calls to you. Confirm each records.
- Set retention on each system, keeping years one to three in audio, years four to six in audio or transcript, and enrollment records on their own ten year path.
- Put your disclaimer script beside the current 42 CFR 422.2267(e)(41) text and have counsel confirm the wording and placement.
- Score a sample from last season's busiest week for where the disclaimer landed relative to the first benefit mention.
- Fix the script, then rescore in week one of AEP to confirm the floor is following it.
A Medicare sales call scorecard gives you the criteria and the critical fail flags to start from. Calibrate it first with two supervisors scoring the same five calls, because calibration variance otherwise reads as a trend when it is really disagreement.
Frequently asked questions
Does CMS require Medicare agents to record calls?
CMS requires third party marketing organizations to record marketing and sales calls in their entirety, including the audio portion of web based calls, under 42 CFR 422.2274 and 423.2274. Whether a specific arrangement makes you a TPMO depends on how you are compensated, so confirm your status with counsel.
How long do Medicare call recordings have to be kept?
The CY2027 final rule sets a six year minimum for marketing and sales calls, with audio required for years one through three and audio or a complete transcript allowed for years four through six. Enrollment records stay on a ten year path.
When does the CMS 2027 rule take effect?
The marketing and communications provisions take effect October 1, 2026, two weeks before the Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15. Verify that date against the final rule first.
What is a TPMO?
A third party marketing organization is an entity or individual compensated to perform lead generation, marketing, sales, or enrollment related functions as part of the chain of enrollment. Agencies, FMOs, lead vendors, and outsourced call centers commonly fall inside it. Full text at 42 CFR 422.2260.
When does the TPMO disclaimer have to be read?
Under the current text at 42 CFR 422.2267(e)(41)(ii), the disclaimer is verbally conveyed during sales calls prior to the discussion of any benefits, replacing the earlier timing tied to the first minute of the call. Read it from the CMS language rather than a paraphrase.
Review your archived calls
Whether last AEP's calls carried the disclaimer before a benefit was named has a number attached, and a clean one is written evidence for your plan partners. Talk with the CallSniper team about scoring your archived recordings against an approved scorecard through the paid pilot. Agree the pilot scope and processing estimate before files move.
Sources
- Recording and retention requirement, 42 CFR 422.2274, read via Cornell LII on 2026-09-09. Six year retention at (g)(2)(ii), the format split for years one to three and four to six, and the disclaimer cross reference at (g)(2)(iv). Page shows most recent amendment 91 FR 17583, April 6, 2026. Verified against a primary text mirror. Verify again on eCFR before publishing.
- TPMO definition, 42 CFR 422.2260, read via Cornell LII on 2026-09-09. Page shows most recent amendment 87 FR 27898, May 9, 2022. Verified against a primary text mirror.
- Disclaimer language and timing, 42 CFR 422.2267(e)(41), read via Cornell LII on 2026-09-09. Timing requirement at (e)(41)(ii). Page shows most recent amendment 91 FR 17583, April 6, 2026. Verified against a primary text mirror.
- Part D counterpart, 42 CFR 423.2274. Not read during drafting. Unverified, confirm before publishing.
- CY2027 final rule (CMS-4208-F3), for the effective date of the marketing and communications provisions, the reduction of marketing and sales retention from ten years to six, removal of the SHIP referral from the disclaimer, and elimination of the 48 hour Scope of Appointment waiting period. Secondary, from agent facing summaries gathered 2026-09-08. Verify against the Federal Register publication before publishing.
- Enrollment record retention of ten years. Secondary, from agent facing summaries gathered 2026-09-08. Not confirmed against primary text. Verify before publishing.
- Annual Enrollment Period opening October 15. Standard CMS enrollment calendar, widely established. Confirm on cms.gov or medicare.gov before publishing.
- Aircall and StackAI, on AI call scoring being more reliable on rule based criteria than on subjective tone. Third party, gathered 2026-09-08. Unverified.