Annual Wellness Visits

Its preventative care to keep you healthy

An Annual Wellness Visit is a once yearly opportunity to focus on your individual preventative health needs with your primary care provider. This is important even if you’re in excellent health or are already well-connected for chronic health issues.

What to expect

The goal of an Annual Wellness Visit is to create an individualized plan to maintain your health.

Items addressed during this visit include:

  • Vital signs, height and weight
  • Health history update, including allergies
  • Review of your current medications, vitamins and supplements
  • Depression screening
  • Cognition screening
  • Mobility screening
  • Scheduling preventative screening including: colon cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer for women, and prostate cancer for men
  • Vaccination review

The Medicare annual wellness visit is FREE with Medicare part B coverage. Patients are eligible for a wellness visit once per year , as long as 11 months have passed since their last visit.

The provider for a Medicare annual wellness visit does not have to be a physician. If the provider is a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, or other medical professional under the supervision of a physician, a patient can receive their AWV.

A Medicare annual wellness visit is key to establishing a patient’s annual care plan. Throughout the visit, the provider acquires beneficiary information, assesses the beneficiary, and counsels the beneficiary.

Types of Medicare wellness visits:

Appointment Goals

Acquire beneficiary information

  • Complete a Health Risk Assessment
  • Update your list of providers/suppliers
  • Update medical/family history
  • Review risk factors for depression, functionary ability, and level of safety

Begin Assessment

  • Assess: record height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, etc.
  • Detect cognitive impairment

Counsel beneficiary

  • Establish/update screening schedule
  • Update risk factors and recommend interventions
  • Give personalized advice, referrals, and educational materials.

Initial Preventive Physical Examination (IPPE)

Review of medical and social health history, and preventive services education

  • Covered only once, within 12 months of Part B enrollment
  • Patient pays nothing (if provider accepts assignment)

Annual Wellness Visit
(AWV)

Visit to develop or update a personalized prevention plan, and perform a health risk assessment

  • Covered once every 12 months
  • Patient pays nothing (if provider accepts assignment)

Routine Physical Examination
(CPE)

Exam performed without relationship to treatment or diagnosis for a specific illness, symptom, complaint, or injury

  • Not covered by Medicare; prohibited by statute
  • Patient pays 100% out-of-pocket