Medicare & Annual Wellness Exams
Medicare covers a one time “Welcome to Medicare” exam as well as an “Annual Wellness Visit” under your current Medicare benefits. The one time “Welcome to Medicare” exam is performed within 12 months of enrolling in Medicare and the “Annual Wellness Visit” follows once per year thereafter.
These annual health visits are routine preventative visit, covered by Medicare with no additional cost to you. The Annual Wellness Visit is not the same thing as what many people often refer to as their yearly physical exam. Medicare is very specific about what the “Annual Wellness Visit” includes and excludes.
At your wellness visit, our health care team will take a complete health history and provide additional services:
- Screenings to detect depression, risk for falling and other problems
- A limited physical exam to check your blood pressure, weight, and other metrics depending on your age, gender and level of activity
- Recommendations for other wellness services and healthy lifestyle changes
- Discuss Medicare-covered services that allow our care team to monitor your health conditions and update your plan of care before office visits more closely.
We appreciate the trust you put in us to take care of your health care needs and hope that you will take advantage of this new benefit to work with our team in creating your personalized prevention plan. Your health is our priority. We hope to help you get the most from your Medicare wellness benefits. If you would like to schedule an annual wellness visit alone or would like to include a physical exam, lab work and medication management please let our staff know.