Preventive care is the most crucial step you can take to manage your health. Many of the top risk factors leading to illness and premature death are preventable. Timely health checkups are a great way of identifying risk factors and preventing serious health problems.
Medicare Annual Wellness Ewing provides wellness services to patients with Medicare health insurance. The team helps to analyze your health condition and design a personalized health plan that can enhance your well-being.
What are Medicare annual wellness visits?
Medicare annual wellness visits (AWV) are preventive health examinations that come under primary care. This service is offered to patients with Medicare health insurance. It involves screening by an experienced primary care physician to identify any potential risk factors, and diseases at an early stage.
With Medicare Part B, the cost of outpatient care, healthcare professional visits, and certain preventive medicine services is reduced.
Who are eligible?
Medicare provides coverage for people aged 65 and older, and young patients with certain disabilities or debilitating diseases. Medicare AWV is available to any eligible Medicare beneficiary who:
- Has been receiving Medicare Part B benefits for at least a period of 12 months
- Has not had an initial preventive physical examination or AWV within the past 12 months
What happens during the first Medicare AWV?
The process of wellness visits begins with a health risk evaluation questionnaire to provide details about your personal and family medical histories.
You can expect the following:
- You will be asked to provide details about the medications being taken, habits like smoking or alcohol consumption.
- Your doctor will record your height, weight, and other vitals like blood pressure, blood sugar, heart rate, pulse, respiratory rate, and oxygen level.
- Furthermore, your mental health and overall mobility, and range of motion will also be assessed.
- Your doctor may administer vaccination booster doses and schedule health screenings for conditions like cancer.
What can you expect from a Medicare AWV?
Following a thorough evaluation of your health and assessment of your physical and mental well-being, your doctor will design a customized wellness plan for you.
This includes the following strategies:
- For weight loss
- To improve your diet
- To increase your physical activity
- For quitting unhealthy habits like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption
- For managing conditions like diabetes, and hypertension
However, it is essential to know Medicare AWVs focus on prevention and education, and not on diagnosis and treatment. Though they aim to promote better health in the later stages of life, they do not involve extensive diagnostic testing.
