Visit your Primary Care Team when you’re not sick!
It’s time to schedule your Annual Wellness Visit an important Medicare benefit especially for you.
Even if you are not sick your Annual Wellness Visit is a time for you and your Primary Care Team to discuss your medications, ways to reduce your risk of getting sick or injured and plan how you can stay well.
At a traditional physical exam (not covered by Medicare) you review your current health issues. But at the Annual Wellness Visit, at no-cost to you, you will talk about habits and lifestyle choices to help keep you at your best. You will talk about your mood, functional abilities, and how to prevent falls or other problems. You can also plan the care you’d want if you could not speak for yourself.
Your Annual Wellness Visit will help you identify scheduled diagnostic tests and preventive screenings, as well as safety equipment to help prevent falls and injury.*
Important additional information
- The Annual Wellness Visit is not a physical checkup. It is a chance for you to sit down once each year with a specially trained member of your Primary Care Team to create or update a personalized plan to help you Be Well. Stay Well.
- The Welcome to Medicare and Annual Wellness visits are both free benefits. If done in combination with another service, you will be billed for that portion of the visit.
A small investment of your time, a year’s worth of peace of mind.
If you have had Medicare Part B for longer than 12 months**, you are entitled to a no-cost yearly visit with your Primary Care Team to help you create a personalized prevention plan to help you Be Well. Stay Well. At this appointment, you will be asked a series of questions about your personal and family medical history, your current health and your risk factors for illness or injury.
Your answers to this Health Risk Assessment will keep your Primary Care Team up-to-date about your:
- Height, weight, blood pressure and other routine measurements.
- Personal and family health history.
- Medications (physician-prescribed and over the counter).
- Mood (depression risk).
- Memory function.
- Mobility and risk for falls.
- Ability to care for yourself.
- Smoking and alcohol use.
- Advanced care planning.
Your Primary Care Team may already have much of this information, but it is important to make sure that the information is complete and updated every year.
To learn more about the Annual Wellness Visit, go to ebrighthealthaco.org/for-beneficiaries or call the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at 1-800-633-4227 (TTY 1-877-486-2048).
*Be sure to research what Medicare will cover and what co-insurance costs will be before making your decision.
** An introductory “Welcome to Medicare” visit with your Primary Care Team is available if you are still within your first 12 months of Part B Medicare coverage.