Medicare Advantage launch readiness checklist
69 items · 7 stages · Updated July 24, 2026
curated
69 items across the seven lifecycle stages, grouped by function: legal and licensure, market thesis, application, bid, CMS review, marketing and AEP, operations, and expansion.
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Before you start: confirm which contract year you are building for. If you are starting now, that is CY2028 — an application around February 2027 and a first member on January 1, 2028. See why →
Stage 1 — Legal, licensure and capital
Stage 1 — Market thesis
Stage 2 — Application
Stage 3 — Bid
Stage 4 — CMS review and readiness
Stage 5 — Marketing and AEP
Stage 6 — Operational year
Stage 7 — Expansion and re-bid
So what / Now what
Most of these items have no CMS deadline attached to them individually — but every one of them gates something that does. The checklist exists so the undated work does not quietly consume the dated window.
- Assign each item an owner and a target date, then work backward from the application deadline.
- Screen and lock your candidate counties in Compare markets.
- Subscribe to CY2028 date alerts so published deadlines reach you the day CMS posts them.
Provenance — sources and date status
- Source files
- Medicare Managed Care Manual, Chapter 11; CY2027 MA and Part D Final Rule; CY2027 Rate Announcement; CY2027 Part D Bidding Instructions
- Vintage
- CY2027 cycle published; CY2028 cycle not yet posted by CMS
- Last updated
- July 24, 2026
- Refresh cadence
- At each CMS cycle milestone (application posting, Advance Notice, Rate Announcement, final rule)
- Method
- CY2027 dates are transcribed from CMS materials. CY2028 dates are either statutory (bid = first Monday in June; Rate Announcement = first Monday in April; ANOC receipt = Sep 30; marketing start = Oct 1; AEP = Oct 15–Dec 7) or projected from the CY2026 and CY2027 cycle pattern.
- Known limitations
- Projected dates are not CMS commitments and must be confirmed against the CMS application page and HPMS memos when the CY2028 cycle opens. Network adequacy standards and application procedures change between cycles — verify current-cycle instructions rather than reusing prior-year guidance.