Published January 2024
Medicare introduced the Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) in 2011 to expand coverage of preventive health services for older adults. The Medicare AWV is structured so that Providers can establish a comprehensive picture of the Member’s health risks, goals, chronic conditions, and barriers to care. It’s an opportunity for Providers to focus on aspects of preventive care (i.e., evidence-based screening services, personalized health risk assessments, advance care planning) that may often be overlooked during physicals or sick visits because of time constraints or more pressing health concerns. Medicare Members who complete their Annual Wellness Visit are more likely to get other important preventive care services like vaccines and cancer screenings than those who don’t.1 Ideally, the AWV creates an opportunity for early disease detection when treatment may be more effective, thus improving patient outcomes and lowering overall costs.
To help encourage our Medicare and D-SNP Members complete this important yearly visit, MVP has launched a new wellness program—Be Well Rewards. All the Member needs to do is complete their Annual Wellness Visit and they will earn a $100 reward card.
An Annual Wellness Visit is not the same as an Initial Preventive Physical Examination (IPPE) or a yearly physical exam. An Annual Wellness Visit should last longer than a typical office visit, ranging from 45 minutes to one hour, longer if doing initial or additional advanced care planning. A personalized prevention plan should be established at the end of the Member’s initial AWV (and updated during each subsequent AWV) and may include recommendations to complete the following services:
- Blood pressure screening
- Bone density scan
- Breast cancer screening
- Cholesterol test
- Colorectal cancer screening
- Diabetes screening
- Vaccines (I.e., COVID-19, flu, pneumococcal, shingles)
- Vision and hearing tests
Learn more about the Medicare AWV, including specific components of the visit, tips for improving performance, and billing codes. Members looking for more information about Be Well Rewards should sign in to Gia® at my.mvphealthcare.com, select Well-Being, and then Be Well Rewards.
Closing Gaps in Care
Review other articles in this issue regarding closing gaps in care.