Medicare Annual Wellness Visits: What to Expect

A Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is a preventive appointment focused on your health risks and on a personalized plan to stay healthy. It helps you and your provider review your medical history, identify preventive care needs, and plan recommended screenings.

Despite its name, this visit is not a routine physical exam.

What Does a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Include?

You’ll complete a health risk assessment—a questionnaire about your health, daily activities, and potential risks. Your provider will use your responses to develop or update your prevention plan.

The visit includes:

• Reviewing your medical and family history.
• Updating your medication, supplement and healthcare provider lists.
• Checking blood pressure, weight and other appropriate measurements.
• Looking for signs of memory or thinking changes.
• Reviewing relevant mood, fall risk, daily functioning and safety concerns.
• Assessing substance use risks and reviewing current opioid prescriptions, if applicable.
• Providing personalized health advice and appropriate referrals.
• Creating or updating a written schedule for recommended screenings and preventive services.

You may also choose to discuss advance care planning, including your treatment preferences and who should make healthcare decisions if you are unable to.

A review of memory and thinking does not, by itself, diagnose dementia. If concerns arise, Medicare covers a separate, more detailed cognitive assessment and a care-planning visit when appropriate; separate cost-sharing may apply.

Who is Eligible?

You can generally receive your first Annual Wellness Visit after you’ve had Medicare Part B for more than 12 months.

Medicare covers the visit once every 12 months—not just once per calendar year. Your first wellness visit also cannot occur within 12 months of a “Welcome to Medicare” preventive visit.

The “Welcome to Medicare” visit is a separate benefit available during your first 12 months of Part B coverage. You do not need to receive it to qualify for annual wellness visits.

Does Medicare Cover the Cost?

Under Original Medicare, you pay nothing for a covered Annual Wellness Visit when your provider accepts assignment, meaning they accept the Medicare-approved amount as full payment. The Part B deductible does not apply to the wellness visit.

However, additional services may incur charges. For example, evaluating a new symptom, managing a medical condition, or ordering tests may be billed separately and may involve cost-sharing. Services Medicare does not cover may be entirely your responsibility.

Ask what is included—and whether any additional charges are expected—before your appointment.

How Is It Different from a Physical Exam?

An Annual Wellness Visit focuses on prevention planning rather than a comprehensive hands-on examination. Routine bloodwork and urine testing are not automatically included.

Original Medicare does not cover a routine annual physical. Some Medicare Advantage plans offer physical exams as an additional benefit; check your plan’s coverage and network requirements before scheduling.

How to Prepare

Bring:

• An updated medication and supplement list, including doses.
• Names of your healthcare providers.
• Available vaccination records and recent screening results.
• Any forms your office asked you to complete.
• Questions about your health and preventive care.

A trusted family member or caregiver can also join you for support

Schedule Your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit

Stay informed about your preventive care needs. Contact tru Primary & Urgent Care to schedule your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit and to confirm your eligibility, coverage, and appointment details.