Record 1
ACA consumer consent documentation
Consumer consent documentation shows that the consumer or authorized representative gave you permission to assist with Marketplace-related activity. This is the permission to help record.
ACA Marketplace recordkeeping guide
ACA Consent Documentation and Recordkeeping for Agents
ACA Marketplace agents need more than an enrollment confirmation. Your compliance file should show consumer consent before assistance and eligibility application review before submission.
Those are related, but they are not the same record. This guide explains what ACA consent documentation is, what eligibility application review documentation is, what records agents should keep, and how long Marketplace agent records must be maintained.
This page is for general compliance education. It is not legal advice, CMS advice, carrier guidance, agency guidance, or a substitute for your own compliance procedures.
Consumer consentApplication review10-year recordsCMS request readiness
Quick answer
What ACA records do agents need to keep?
ACA agents assisting consumers through the Federally-facilitated Marketplace or a State-based Marketplace on the Federal Platform should keep, at a minimum, documentation showing these records.
| Record type | What it proves | When it must happen | Minimum retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer consent documentation | The consumer or authorized representative authorized the agent, broker, web-broker, or agency to assist. | Before providing enrollment assistance, facilitating enrollment, or assisting with APTC/CSR applications. | Minimum 10 years |
| Eligibility application review documentation | The consumer or authorized representative reviewed and confirmed the accuracy of the eligibility application information. | Before application submission, including updates or changes. | Minimum 10 years |
| Record-producing consumer action | The consumer or authorized representative took an action that created a record. | At the time consent or review confirmation is captured. | Minimum 10 years |
| Supporting ACA compliance file | The records are tied to the consumer, plan year, application, agent, and workflow. | As part of your sales, service, renewal, or update process. | Keep with the required documentation |
CMS regulations require consumer consent documentation and eligibility application review documentation to be maintained for a minimum of 10 years and produced upon request in response to monitoring, audit, and enforcement activities.
Record 2
ACA application review documentation
Eligibility application review documentation shows that the consumer or authorized representative reviewed and confirmed the accuracy of eligibility application information before submission. This is the application accuracy confirmed record.
Consumer consent answers: Did the consumer authorize your help?
Application review answers: Did the consumer review and confirm the information before submission?
Scope
Who this guide applies to
This guide is focused on licensed agents, brokers, and web-brokers assisting consumers with Marketplace coverage through federal-platform workflows.
Off-Marketplace plans and State-based Marketplaces that do not use the Federal Platform may involve different state-law or marketplace-specific requirements.
The Federally-facilitated Marketplace
HealthCare.gov workflows
Classic Direct Enrollment workflows
Enhanced Direct Enrollment workflows
State-based Marketplaces on the Federal Platform
Consent record
Minimum information for ACA consent documentation
Before assisting a Marketplace consumer, you need a record showing that the consumer or authorized representative gave consent through a record-producing action.
A description of the scope, purpose, and duration of the consent
The date consent was given
The name of the consumer or authorized representative
The name of the agent, broker, web-broker, or agency being granted consent
A process through which the consumer or authorized representative may rescind consent
Application review
Minimum information for application review documentation
Consumer consent is only the first record. Agents also need to document that the consumer or authorized representative reviewed and confirmed eligibility application information before submission.
The date the information was reviewed
The name of the consumer or authorized representative
An explanation of the attestations at the end of the eligibility application
The name of the assisting agent, broker, or web-broker
Two events
Can one form cover both consent and application review?
Yes, but only if it properly captures both separate events. Consent must happen before assistance. Application review must happen after the application is completed and before submission.
1 Consent before assistance
2 Application completed
3 Consumer reviews and confirms
4 Submit application
5 Store records for 10 years
Documentation methods
Acceptable ways to document consent and application review
CMS does not require one specific form or process. What matters is that the record meets the required content elements and can be maintained and produced.
Electronic signature
Wet signature
Recorded verbal confirmation
Email response
Text message response
Written response
Electronic form submission
Other similar methods allowed by HHS guidance
Practical takeaway
If the consumer gives consent or confirms application review by phone, capture the audio recording or another compliant written or electronic record.
Record package
What records should ACA agents keep?
The minimum federal documentation requirements focus on consumer consent and application review. In practice, agents should keep a complete ACA compliance file that makes the record easy to understand later.
Consumer consent documentation
Eligibility application review documentation
Date consent was given
Date application information was reviewed
Consumer or authorized representative name
Agent, broker, web-broker, or agency name
Scope, purpose, and duration of consent
Consent rescission process
Application attestations explanation
Evidence of the consumer action, such as signature, email, text, or recording
Plan year
Application submission date
Enrollment or update date
Plan selection or plan-change record
NPN or agency association record, when relevant
HealthCare.gov, Classic DE, or EDE confirmation details
Authorized representative documentation, if applicable
Call recording, if verbal confirmation was used
Screenshots, PDFs, or exports from the workflow, where appropriate
Notes explaining unusual issues, such as application corrections, NPN disputes, or consumer-requested changes
Record export package for CMS, agency, carrier, or internal review
AOR questions
ACA recordkeeping is also an agent-of-record defense issue
If a consumer later disputes who helped them, whether they authorized assistance, whether application information was reviewed, or whether an update was made with permission, the agent needs a file that can be produced and understood.
The record does not prevent every AOR dispute or unauthorized-change question. It helps show the sequence of events and keeps the documentation needed to explain what happened.
Keep the dispute-response file together
Consumer consent documentation
Application review confirmation
Evidence of the consumer action that created the record
Call recording, if verbal confirmation was used
Application details and submission or update dates
Plan-change notes and consumer-requested corrections
Marketplace files, screenshots, PDFs, and exports
Exportable record package for later review
Common scenarios
ACA consent records in practical Marketplace workflows
HealthCare.gov person search and consent records
Do not treat HealthCare.gov, Classic DE, or EDE person search as a casual lookup. Get and store consent before searching for a consumer's Marketplace application.
Quotes, PII, and consumer consent
If the quote or estimate uses information that identifies or can be linked to a specific consumer, document consent first.
Renewals, updates, and plan changes
New application, update, plan change, NPN correction, or consumer-requested revision? Confirm whether you need fresh consent, fresh application review documentation, or both.
Marketplace Call Center authorization
Marketplace Call Center authorization is a separate workflow. Keep your ACA consent and application review records too.
Third-party leads and ACA consent records
Do not rely on a lead form unless it satisfies your ACA consent documentation requirements.
Authorized representatives and household members
If the record depends on an authorized representative, store the representative authority with the consent and review documentation.
Retention
How long do ACA agents need to keep consent and application review records?
Marketplace agents should plan around a 10-year retention workflow. CMS FAQ guidance states that agents, brokers, and web-brokers must maintain consumer consent and eligibility application review documentation for a minimum of 10 years and provide it to CMS upon request.
10-year record window
CMS may request documentation during the 10-year window in connection with monitoring, audit, and enforcement activities. Agents are not required to proactively provide documentation for every consumer unless CMS requests it.
Do not delete ACA consent and application review records just because the client relationship ended, consent expired, the consumer left the Marketplace, or the consumer chose another agent.
Portability
What if the agent leaves an agency or changes employers?
Record retention does not disappear when a business relationship changes. Agents and agencies should decide before enrollment season where ACA records will live, who can retrieve them, and how they will be exported if business relationships change.
Practical rule
Keep ACA documentation retrievable even if the agent stops working with a former employer, changes CRMs, changes EDE tools, changes agencies, or updates phone vendors.
Avoidable issues
Common ACA recordkeeping mistakes
Mistake 1
Treating consent and application review as the same thing
Consent authorizes your help. Application review confirms the accuracy of eligibility application information before submission.
Mistake 2
Getting consent after the work is already done
Consumer consent should be documented before enrollment assistance, person search, application assistance, or enrollment facilitation.
Mistake 3
Using a lead form as if it were Marketplace consent
Third-party lead permission may not include the scope, purpose, duration, rescission process, required names, and consumer action needed for Marketplace consent documentation.
Mistake 4
Relying on an unrecorded phone conversation
If verbal consent or review confirmation is used, capture it in an audio recording or another compliant written or electronic record.
Mistake 5
Forgetting application updates
Application review documentation may be required again when eligibility application information, plan selection, NPN information, or other Marketplace application details are updated or changed.
Mistake 6
Not explaining the attestations
The application review record should include an explanation of the attestations at the end of the eligibility application.
Mistake 7
Storing records in too many places
ACA records are hard to produce if consent is in email, application review is in a CRM note, call recording is in a phone system, and the Marketplace file is on a desktop.
Mistake 8
Losing records after changing agencies, CRMs, EDE tools, or phone vendors
Your ACA documentation should remain retrievable even if your business tools change.
Checklist
Practical ACA recordkeeping workflow
Step 1
Identify whether Marketplace assistance is being provided
If you are helping with HealthCare.gov, FFM, SBE-FP, Classic DE, EDE, APTC, CSR, plan enrollment, application updates, plan changes, or Marketplace person search, treat the file as requiring ACA documentation.
Step 2
Document consumer consent first
Before assistance, capture the consumer or authorized representative consent through a record-producing action.
Step 3
Complete the eligibility application workflow
Use your approved Marketplace, HealthCare.gov, EDE, agency, carrier, or internal workflow.
Step 4
Review the application information with the consumer
Before submission, have the consumer or authorized representative review and confirm the accuracy of the eligibility application information, including the applicable attestations.
Step 5
Capture application review documentation
Store the date reviewed, consumer or authorized representative name, attestation explanation record, and assisting agent, broker, or web-broker name.
Step 6
Store the full ACA file together
Keep consent, application review, call recordings, Marketplace files, plan selection details, updates, and supporting documents in one retrievable location.
Step 7
Preserve the record for at least 10 years
Be prepared to produce the documentation if CMS requests it during monitoring, audit, or enforcement activity.
Workflow support
How Informed + Choice can help
This guide explains the recordkeeping problem. The ACA Compliance Vault helps with the workflow.
Informed + Choice ACA Compliance Vault is built for licensed agents who need to document ACA consumer consent, store eligibility application review documentation, keep call recordings and supporting files organized, upload historical records, and retrieve or export records when needed.
Use it as a record layer beside your existing HealthCare.gov, EDE, CRM, agency, quoting, enrollment, or carrier workflow.
No software can guarantee compliance by itself. You remain responsible for following CMS rules, state rules, Marketplace rules, agency procedures, carrier requirements, privacy obligations, and approved workflows.
Bottom line
ACA agents should not think of Marketplace recordkeeping as one signed form
Consumer consent before assistance
Eligibility application review before submission
A consumer action that produced a record
Minimum required content for both records
10-year retention and CMS production readiness
Organized, connected, exportable files
Keep those records organized, connected to the consumer file, and exportable if your business tools change.
Store ACA Consent Records in ACA Compliance VaultCompliance source notes
Primary authority notes
45 CFR 155.220(j)(2)(iii) requires agents, brokers, and web-brokers to obtain and document consumer consent before assisting with or facilitating enrollment through a Federally-facilitated Exchange or assisting with APTC/CSR applications. Read 45 CFR 155.220.
45 CFR 155.220(j)(2)(ii) requires documentation that eligibility application information was reviewed and confirmed as accurate by the consumer or authorized representative before submission.
CMS Marketplace compliance materials state that consumer consent documentation and eligibility application review documentation must be maintained for a minimum of 10 years and provided to CMS upon request in response to audit, monitoring, or enforcement actions. Read the CMS Marketplace compliance deck.
CMS FAQ guidance states that CMS may request the documentation at any time during the 10-year window and that agents are not required to proactively provide the documentation absent a CMS request. Read the CMS consent FAQ.
CMS FAQ guidance also explains that one documentation workflow may be used for both requirements only if it captures both separate events. Read the 2024 Payment Notice FAQ.
Agents remain responsible for current CMS rules, Marketplace rules, state requirements, privacy obligations, carrier procedures, agency policies, and approved workflows.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is ACA consent documentation? +
ACA consent documentation is a record showing that the consumer or authorized representative authorized an agent, broker, web-broker, or agency to assist with Marketplace-related activity. For Marketplace workflows under 45 CFR 155.220, the consumer or authorized representative must take an action that produces a record the agent can maintain and produce.
What is ACA application review documentation? +
ACA application review documentation is a record showing that the consumer or authorized representative reviewed and confirmed the accuracy of eligibility application information before the agent, broker, or web-broker submitted the application, update, or change to the Marketplace.
Are consumer consent and application review the same thing? +
No. Consent shows that the consumer authorized your help. Application review shows that the consumer reviewed and confirmed the accuracy of eligibility application information before submission. A single workflow may capture both, but it must clearly document both separate events.
Can ACA agents use one form for both consent and application review? +
Yes, if the form or workflow properly captures both separate events: consent before assistance, and application review after the application is completed but before submission.
What must ACA consumer consent documentation include? +
ACA consumer consent documentation should include the scope, purpose, and duration of consent; the date consent was given; the name of the consumer or authorized representative; the name of the agent, broker, web-broker, or agency being granted consent; and a process for rescinding consent.
What must ACA application review documentation include? +
Application review documentation should include the date the information was reviewed, the name of the consumer or authorized representative, an explanation of the attestations at the end of the eligibility application, and the name of the assisting agent, broker, or web-broker.
How long do ACA agents need to keep consent and application review records? +
Agents, brokers, and web-brokers should maintain ACA consumer consent and application review documentation for at least 10 years and be prepared to produce it to CMS upon request in response to monitoring, audit, or enforcement activity.
Do ACA agents have to send consent records to CMS for every consumer? +
No. CMS FAQ guidance states that agents and brokers are not required to proactively provide documentation to CMS for each consumer absent a request. They must maintain the records and produce them if CMS requests them.
Can verbal consent be used? +
Yes, but it should be captured in an audio recording or another compliant written or electronic record. An unrecorded verbal statement that is not memorialized in a written record is not enough.
Do agents need consent before using HealthCare.gov person search? +
Yes. CMS guidance states that agents may use Classic Direct Enrollment or Enhanced Direct Enrollment person search functionality only if they have obtained and documented the consumer's or authorized representative's consent and the consent has not expired or been rescinded.
Does a third-party lead form count as ACA consent? +
Not automatically. A lead form, referral, or marketing opt-in may not satisfy Marketplace consent documentation requirements unless it includes the required content and shows the consumer took an action giving the required consent.
What happens if the consumer rescinds consent or changes agents? +
The agent may no longer act under rescinded or expired consent, but existing consent and application review documentation still needs to be maintained for the applicable retention period.
Does ACA Compliance Vault guarantee compliance? +
No. No software can guarantee compliance by itself. ACA Compliance Vault helps agents create, store, organize, retrieve, and export records. Agents remain responsible for following CMS rules, state rules, privacy requirements, Marketplace procedures, agency policies, and approved workflows.
Store ACA consent, application review, and supporting records together
ACA Compliance Vault gives agents a record layer for consumer consent, eligibility application review documentation, call recordings, Marketplace files, and exportable records.
ACA Compliance Vault | Recorded business line for ACA agents | Call recording for insurance agents | Agent compliance vault | Medicare agent tools