The SkyWell Advisor Framework.
Six steps from your introduction to an annual review that keeps running. Written down because a referral process nobody can describe is a referral process nobody uses twice.
Introduction
You send an email introduction with one or two lines of context — what prompted it and anything you already know matters. That is the whole ask on your side. We take it from there and keep you copied.
Intake
A 15-minute call with the client to establish the facts: birthdays, retirement date, current coverage, employer plan status, doctors, prescriptions, health history, and whether a spouse is in the picture. Most of what decides these recommendations is factual rather than preferential.
Analysis
The part that takes real time. Medicare plans compared against the actual doctor and drug list; an RSSA®-certified claiming analysis run for the household rather than the individual; and where relevant, long-term care funding modelled as a reallocation against current cost of care projected forward.
The joint recommendation
You see it before the client does. A written summary of what is recommended and why, with the trade-offs stated rather than buried. If it interacts with something you are managing — a conversion schedule, a withdrawal sequence, an existing policy — that is flagged for you specifically. If you disagree, we would rather hear it here than after enrollment.
Enrollment
We handle applications, carrier paperwork, effective dates and the confirmation that coverage is actually in force. Enrollment windows are unforgiving and this is where referrals most often die from nobody owning the calendar.
The annual review
Formularies, networks and premiums are re-filed every plan year. Each autumn we re-shop the client against their current doctors and prescriptions and tell you what changed — including when the answer is nothing. That is the step that turns one referral into a relationship your client credits you for.
Where the handoffs are
Referral relationships fail at the seams rather than in the middle, so it is worth being explicit about who is holding what:
- Steps 1 and 4 are shared. You start it, and you see the recommendation before the client. Those are the only two points that need anything from you.
- Steps 2, 3 and 5 are ours entirely. Intake, analysis and enrollment do not touch your calendar.
- Step 6 is ours, reported to you. Every autumn, whether or not anything changed.
Anything that surfaces outside the referral — a term policy about to lapse, an annuity with a problem in it, a beneficiary designation that has not been updated since a divorce — comes back to you rather than being acted on. You decide whether it is yours or ours.
What a client experiences
Worth knowing, since it reflects on you. The client gets a specialist who has read the situation before the first meeting, a recommendation in plain English with the trade-offs stated, and somebody who calls them in the autumn without being chased. Type is set large and the site carries an accessibility panel, because most of the people on the other end of this are over 65.
They are told, in writing and in conversation, that you are the one who brought them and that the plan is being coordinated with you. That framing is not courtesy — it is the reason the referral strengthens your relationship rather than diluting it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the whole thing take?
Two to four weeks in a normal case, driven mostly by enrollment windows and carrier turnaround rather than by analysis. A client inside a deadline — an Initial Enrollment Period closing, or employer coverage ending — gets moved to the front.
Do I attend the meetings?
Only if you want to. Some advisors sit in on the first few to see how it runs and then stop; others prefer to stay in the loop by email throughout. Both are normal. What is not optional is that you see the recommendation before the client does.
What do you need from me?
An introduction and any context you think matters. We do not need statements, plan documents or portfolio data, and we would rather not have them — we do not need to see the assets to do this layer, and not holding them keeps the boundary clean.
What happens if the answer is that they do not need anything?
We tell you and we tell them. A no-change recommendation is a legitimate outcome and a fairly common one on the long-term care side in particular. An advisor who only ever hears yes should be suspicious of the process, not reassured by it.
Run it once with a live case.
Book an advisor meeting and bring a situation you are unsure about — Virginia Barausky, CLTC, RSSA®.