Phone: 205-838-3200
Medicare Annual Wellness Visit in Trussville
The Annual Wellness Visit is a benefit most Medicare patients have and most never use. It is not the same as your yearly physical, and it is not a sick visit. It is a dedicated appointment for looking at the whole picture, your health history, the medications you take, your risk factors and how you are getting along day to day, and then building a prevention plan for the year ahead.
Alabama Internal Medicine sees Medicare patients for this visit every year. Dr. Steven Kulback, Dr. Nicholas Echemendia and physician assistant Carrie Cole all provide it, and because the practice manages your ongoing care as well, the plan that comes out of the visit connects to everything else in your chart rather than sitting in a folder.
What the Visit Covers
Your provider reviews your history, your medications and how you are getting along day to day. Memory and thinking are reviewed, along with balance, mobility and fall risk, because a fall is one of the fastest ways an independent year turns into a difficult one.
You leave with a written prevention plan and a clear list of what is coming up.
Included in the Visit
How it is different from your physical
A physical involves a hands on examination. The Annual Wellness Visit is a review and a planning appointment, and the two serve different purposes. Many patients have both, at different points in the year. If you are not sure which you are due for, the staff can look and tell you.
Annual Wellness Visit
Annual Physical
Who it is for
Any patient with Medicare Part B is generally eligible once every twelve months after the first year of coverage.
If you are not certain about your plan, call and ask before you schedule rather than guessing.
Plans seen at the practice
Ask whether you are due for your Annual Wellness Visit.
Making it worth the appointment
Those are exactly the details this visit exists to catch. A family member is welcome to come with you, and that is often a good idea if memory or medications are a concern.
What to bring with you
Who Provides the Visit
Frequently Asked Questions
No, they are two separate visits. The physical includes a hands on exam. The wellness visit is a review of your history, medications and risk factors, and produces a prevention plan for the year.
Generally once every twelve months. Call the office and the staff can check when yours was last done.
Not for the wellness visit itself. If lab work is being drawn at the same appointment, you will be told ahead of time.
Your medication bottles, including vitamins and supplements, your Medicare card, any recent records or lab work from another physician, and a list of the specialists you see.
Longer than a routine follow up, because there is a lot of ground to cover. Set the morning or afternoon aside rather than rushing it.
The practice sees patients on Medicare, Viva Medicare Plus, Blue Advantage and Humana. Call before scheduling if you are unsure which plan you are on.
Height, weight and blood pressure are taken, but this visit is not a head to toe examination. If you also need a physical, that is scheduled separately.
You can raise it, and your provider will tell you whether it needs its own appointment. Some things need more time than this visit allows.
It goes in your chart and it guides the year. Screenings and vaccines get scheduled from it, and it is reviewed and updated the following year.
That is often a good idea, particularly if memory or medications are a concern. A second set of ears catches things.
Then it is worth scheduling now. There is no penalty for the gap, and the review tends to be more valuable when more time has passed.
Ask when you schedule. Some parts of the visit work by telephone or video and some do not, and the staff will tell you what makes sense for your situation.
3536 Vann Road, Suite B, in the Trussville Office Park just off Highway 11. The mailing address reads Birmingham 35235, though the office is physically in Trussville.
Visit Us in Trussville
Still Have a Question?
New patients are welcome.