What Is the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit?

The Medicare annual wellness visit is a free preventive benefit available to Medicare beneficiaries every 12 months. Both Original Medicare and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Medicare Advantage offer this visit with your doctor toܫ review your mental and physical heaꦫlth and cognitive abilities. Together, you create a personalized plan to address concerns based on your current health and any risk factors. 

How the Medical Wellness Visit Works 

The annual wellness visitꦅ includes a health risk assessment, a review of your medical and family health hisꦿtory, a collection of your current healthcare providers and suppliers, and a self-assessment of your health status.

In advance, the doctor will likely give you a questi꧒onnaire. It takes about five minutes to fill out.

The Medicare annual wellness visit attempts to uncover any changes impacting your ability to care for yourself (such as dressing, shopping, and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:financial management) and increased he🐲alth risks from behavioral factors (smoking, physical activity, seat belt use) and emotional factors (depression, anger, loneliness).

The doctor will measure and document: 

• Demographic information
• Height
• Weight
• Body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference
• Blood pressure
• Other measurements based on medical and family history
• Any cognitive impairments
• Potential depression risk factors
• Ability to perform daily activities
• Risk of a fall 
• Any hearing impairment
• Potential substance use disorders and opioid prescriptions
• Other safety concerns

Using this information, the doctor helps maintain a screening schedule based on your risk factors and conditions. You’ll get personalized advice and referrals to health services and programs to help address physical safety and mental health issues and control risk factors such as smoking. 

Your wellness visit can also include advance care planning, also known as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:advance directive plannin♏g. This is a face-to-face conversation between you and your healthcare professional abou𒀰t your healthcare wishes and medical treatment preferences should you become unable to communicate or make decisions about your care. 

You won’t pay anything for your visit (including the Part B deductible) if your doctor accepts the Medicare 🍎assignment. 

But to have the visit remain free, you’ll also need to stay within the Medicare annuaꦕl wellness visit’s boundaries of discussion topics. Don’t talk about your new knee ache; make a separate appointment for that. 

Types of Medicare Annual Wellness Visits

There are tw💎o types of Medicare annual wellness visits (AWVs)—the initial ไAWV and follow-up AWVs that happen in subsequent years. 

Your first Medicare annual wellness visit will be more thorough than later ones. It will include establishing a baseline regarding your physical and mental health history, risk factors, and any signs of cognitive impairment. You'll also set up a personalized screening schedule going forward. The doctor will discuss your advance care planning if you wish. 

After the first visit, the weꦓllness visits review and update changes to the above, incl📖uding:

• Health risk assessment
• Medical and family history 
• Current providers and suppliers
• Weight and blood pressure measurements
• Cognitive impairment assessment
• Written screening schedule 
• Risk factors and interventions 
• Referrals to services and programs
• Advance care planning
• Opioid prescriptions 

Routine Physical Exam vs. AWV

Your annual wellness exam reviews your personalized prevention plan of services and is focused on managing health risks. Medicare covers an annual AWV 12 months after the last AWV (date of service), paying all costℱs as long as the doctor accepts Medicare. The AWV can also incorporate a♛dvance care planning discussions.

In comparison, a routine physical is a medical exam perf𓃲orm♕ed without addressing treatment or diagnosis for a specific illness, symptom, complaint, or injury. 

Original Medicare does not cover routine physical exams; patients must pay all costs out of pocket. However, some 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Medicare Advantage plans cover annual physicals.

Physical exams don’t typically include di🌳scussions of advance care planning. However, 🎉the AWV and other Medicare benefits cover some aspects of the routine physical, so you may see some overlap.

Requiremen🤡ts for the Medicar♐e Annual Wellness Visit

For Medicare to cover your Medicare annual wellness visit, it must be performed by a physician (doctor of medicine or osteopathic medicine) or a n🤡urse practitioner, physician assistant, or clinical nurse specialist. 

You must have澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: been enrolled in Medicare Part B for more than 12 months. In other words, your first y𝓰early wellness visit can’t occur within 12 months of your 🍸Part B enrollment. 

Your Medicare annual wellness visit also can’t take place within 12 months of your “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit, which happens when you first join Medicare. That visit reviews your health-related medical and social history and provides education on preventive services. The “Welcome to Medicare” visit is called the Initial Preventive Physical Exam or IPPE.

However, to qualify for your annual wellness visit, you don’t need to h🐠ave completed the “Welcome to Medicare” preventive v🎀isit.

To prepare for your Medicare an🎀nual wꦓellness visit, you’ll need to bring: 

• Medical records
• Immunization records
• Family health history
• A list of all medications, supplements, and vitamins, and information on how often and how much of each you take
• A list of your current healthcare providers and suppliers, including mental health specialists

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

The Bottom Line

The Medicare annual wellness visit allows you to discuss your overall health, quality of life, mental health, mood, and ability to think with your doctor. Your care provider can watch for changes and order more test𓆏s or help with necessary interventions. Catching problems early can keep you healthier and help you avoid expensive treaꦚtments later on.