What is an Annual Wellness Visit?
If you are age 65 or older, the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is a benefit you’ve earned! Medicare encourages this annual visit with a health provider as a valuable step to keep you active and independent for as long as possible.
And, if you have traditional Medicare (also called Medicare Part B), the cost of the Annual Wellness Visit is covered at 100%, requiring no copay from you.
During your Annual Wellness Visit, you will work with a Life Line Community Healthcare Nurse Practitioner to develop a personalized wellness plan that you will take with you that day. We will also send a copy directly to your doctor. The Nurse Practitioner will evaluate your current health status, identify your risk factors for chronic disease, and make a list of all the recommended Medicare preventive screenings you should receive for the next few years.
Disease Information
- What is heart (cardiovascular) disease?
- How common is heart disease?
- Can I reduce my risk of developing heart disease?
- Why should I have health screenings done if I have no symptoms?
- Which Life Line Screening blood screenings check for heart disease risk factors?
- What is an Annual Wellness Visit?
- What makes Life Line Screenings disease risk assessment different from the others available?
The Annual Wellness Visit includes:
- Review of your medical and family history
- Review of functional abilities, fall prevention and home safety
- A written screening and immunization schedule for the next 5 to 10 years
- Measurement of blood pressure and other biometrics deemed appropriate by your medical or family history
- Screening for depression or cognitive impairment
- Personalized advice for health, nutrition, and exercise, with referral to additional services if needed.
Why does Medicare Recommend the
Annual Wellness Visit?
Identifying risk factors and early detection of chronic disease are the best ways to keep people healthy and reduce overall medical costs. It’s a new approach from Medicare—doing more to help people stay healthy.
Why Life Line Community Healthcare?
At Life Line Community Healthcare, we have developed a first-class process for conducting your Annual Wellness Visit. Life Line Community Healthcare visits communities all over the U.S. every day, so you can make an appointment at a time and place that is convenient for you. The licensed nurse practitioner will take the time to listen to you and discuss your health, and you can return every year to update and revise your prevention plan as needed.
Advance Care Planning
Also included in your Annual Wellness Visit, if you choose, is Advance Care Planning, which helps you lay out your wishes for your health care should you become incapable of communicating them. Planning for this potential is not only good for you; it is being kind to your family as well. Writing down your wishes regarding issues such as feeding tubes, ventilators, and other health care ensures that your family and doctors can make the right choices for you in case you aren’t able to make them for yourself.
Using the Five Wishes document, which was developed by the non-profit organization Aging With Dignity, a trained nurse practitioner will help you outline your wishes clearly. Your family will thank you.
All Medicare beneficiaries (Part B and Part C PPO) who are receiving an Annual Wellness Visit are eligible for this service.
What Should I Bring To My Annual Wellness Visit?
- Any medical records you have, including your immunization records
- Your Medicare card and any other insurance cards
- Your family health history, with as much detail as possible
- A complete list of medications you take, including vitamins and supplements. Write down the dosage and how often you take each medication
- A list of all your health care providers
I Already Get a Routine Physical Every Year—Is
This the Same Thing?
NO. During your Annual Wellness Visit, you will make an overall plan to stay healthy. During your routine physical (a separate wellness appointment), you can take some of the steps to carry out the plan.