Stay Healthy. Stay Independent. Schedule Your Medicare Wellness Exam.
It’s time to get intentional about YOU and your health. While no one loves the idea of setting up a medical appointment, it’s important – especially for snowbirds. Adelante Healthcare (AHC) knows Medicare preventative screenings are the key to a healthy, informed future. Keeping your annual Wellness Exam a priority is one way to keep you healthier, longer.
What exactly is a wellness exam?
A Medicare Wellness Exam is different from a yearly physical. Instead, think of it as a prevention visit – tailored to you and your specific needs. The goal is to look at your history and current health in order to prevent disease or disability.
The wellness exam is longer than a typical visit because it goes into much more detail and is a comprehensive review of all aspects of your health versus a visit addressing a specific problem like a cold or allergies.
What happens during a wellness exam?
Your Adelante physician will ask you to fill out a Health Risk Assessment that asks about your health, injury risks, behavioral risks, and urgent health needs. This is no time to be shy! Answering those questions honestly and thoroughly helps you both to develop a personalized prevention plan.
Next, your doctor will review your medical and family histories. Why? To help identify any chronic illnesses, genetic predispositions, or future risk for disease. For example, if your family has a history of certain types of cancers, you may be at a higher risk and want to build a potential preventative plan around that.
Your doctor will want to know about your current list of current prescriptions and any non-prescription supplements you may take. This will help not only to look for possible drug interactions but what meds may need adjustments, if they are working well for you, etc.
Routinely, your AHC physician will need to know your height, weight, blood pressure and pulse. Again, this is to create a baseline to compare future visits’ vitals and ensure your measurements are within “normal” ranges.
Often your doctor will look for cognitive impairments and assess your ability to perform daily activities like hygiene, feeding yourself, if you are a fall risk, etc. As we age, this becomes an important indicator of what services we may need in the future. For example, your doctor may suggest further screening for a hearing screening. If it’s appropriate, they may discuss advanced care planning too.
At this point, your doctor will also want to discuss other preventative care appointments like mammograms, colonoscopies, osteoporosis screenings and vaccinations.
At some point, you may want to talk with your doctor about future advance directives, legal documents like Power of Attorney and your healthcare wishes. Your physician is a great neutral third party who can inform you about different choices – from living wills to resuscitation.
What next?
Your Wellness Exam is covered by Medicare at Adelante. With multiple locations in the West Valley, it’s easy to find a clinic nearby to begin your wellness journey.