A WORD TO OUR PATIENTS ABOUT MEDICARE AND WELLNESS CARE
We want you to receive wellness care – health care that may lower you risk of illness or injury. Medicare pays for some wellness care, but it does not pay for all of the wellness care you might need. We want you to know about your Medicare benefits and how we can help you get the most from them.
The term “physical” is often used to describe wellness care. But Medicare does not pay for a traditional, head-to-toe physical. Medicare does pay for a wellness visit once a year to identify health risks and help you to reduce them. At your wellness visit, our health care team will take a complete health history and provide several other services:
- A limited physical exam to check your blood pressure, weight, vision, hearing and other things depending on your age, gender and level of activity,
- Screening to detect risk for falling and other safety risks,
- Screening to detect depression and memory problems,
- And provide recommendations for other wellness services and healthy lifestyle changes.
A wellness visit does not deal with new or existing health problems. That would be a separate service and requires a longer appointment. Please let our scheduling staff know if you need the doctor’s help with a health problem, a medication refill or something else. We may need to schedule a separate appointment. A separate charge applies to these services, whether provided on the same date or a different date than the wellness visit.
We hope to help you get the most from you Medicare wellness benefits. Please contact us with any questions.