Medicare Wellness Visits provide preventive health care
For more than 40 years, Medicare has provided seniors and people with disabilities with health coverage. Until recently, however, Medicare concentrated on treating beneficiaries’ conditions and diseases when they were already affected rather than emphasizing preventive care to keep people healthy in the first place.
When the Affordable Care Act was passed, this changed. As of January 2011, Medicare now covers an annual wellness visit at no cost to people 65 years of age and older as long as they receive the service from an in-network provider. This visit is an opportunity for you and your doctor to develop a personalized prevention plan that takes a comprehensive approach to improving your health and preventing disease.
These visits are meant to help you avoid a health problem or disease or to slow down a current illness. They give you and your health care team time to review your health status and make a plan for your health and wellness needs.
During a wellness visit, the nurse usually:
• Checks vital signs and takes routine measurements such as your height, weight, blood pressure, and body mass index (your height-to-weight ratio);
• Reviews your medical history and the medical history of your family, and discusses the care you are currently receiving from other health care providers;
• Talks about any on-going health problems you have, any conditions that you may be a risk for, and the choices you have for treatment or assistance;
• Reviews your functional ability and level of safety (for example, risk of falling at home), including any cognitive impairment, as well as screening for depression;
• Reviews medications;
• Makes or updates a plan for your preventive care over the next five to 10 years.
“The wellness visit is all about preventive care,” said Jen Taylor, a Mayo Clinic Health System in Springfield registered nurse, during a recent interview. Registered nurses provide the wellness visits, and at Mayo Clinic Health System in Springfield, Taylor and Becky Hillesheim, registered nurses, conduct the wellness visits.
Ron and Sharon Sturm recently took the opportunity to participate in the Medicare Wellness Visit prior to their meeting with their doctor for annual physical exams. “It worked out well,” said Ron. “We spent about an hour and went through my health history. When the provider came in to see me, she had all the history and what we had talked about.”
“It’s a good program,” added Sharon. “The interview is very thorough.” In the beginning, Sharon admitted that she was a bit disappointed because she thought the wellness visit replaced the physical examination; then she learned that it was a preliminary to the physical exam. “We talked about physical health, mood, sleep, nutrition, family history, personal health history, current health, and did a simple memory test,” Sharon noted. The wellness visit brings about awareness and she still had the same opportunity to talk with her doctor about health concerns.
“The information gathering is very helpful to providers,” acknowledged Taylor, who has been conducting wellness visits for about five years. “It is more helpful if the wellness visit is conducted before the physical. There is so much that can be covered in preventive care. Everyone receives the same basic information. Everyone is provided with information about heart health. Everyone gets overall information regarding home safety, wellness sleep, diet, activities. Then we add what’s pertinent to the individual.”
“During each visit we review a check list, consider risk factors, prepare a preventive care plan, and ask some routine questions such as about flu vaccine that we recommend every year,” noted Taylor. “We ask a lot of questions, and we explain why we ask those questions,” continued Taylor. “There are a lot of reasons for those questions. A typical preventive care visit can identify health concerns early, when they’re easier to treat.”
The Medicare Wellness Visits also provide a better understanding about Medicare preventive care benefits provided through the Affordable Care Act, said Taylor.
Of course we encourage yearly visits for people of all ages,” said Taylor. “Wellness care and education is for all ages.”
Medicare’s wellness visit might seem like a small thing, but it will help you take control of your health. If you take full advantage of wellness visits, coupled with preventive care, it may mean the difference between sickness and health, and in some cases, between life and death. Of course, if you do get sick, Medicare will cover your doctor and hospital.