What to Expect from a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit

January 10, 2026
What to Expect from a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit

Introduction

Your health deserves annual attention, not just during exams for acute illnesses. That’s why Medicare includes a special benefit: the Annual Wellness Visit. This yearly appointment provides beneficiaries a head start on prevention, health goal setting, and early detection of risk factors for future illness. Knowing what happens during this visit, what is covered, and how to maximize its preventive focus can boost your long-term wellbeing—and keep costs down.

What is a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit?

The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is not a traditional hands-on physical exam. It is a future-focused, structured conversation and planning session offered once every 12 months for those with Medicare Part B for more than one year. Unlike the one-time "Welcome to Medicare" visit, the Annual Wellness Visit creates or updates your personal prevention plan to catch emerging health risks and improve your lifestyle over time.

What Does Medicare Cover During the Annual Wellness Visit?

  • Health Risk Assessment: A questionnaire about your current health status, medical/family history, lifestyle, fall risks, and general safety at home.
  • Routine Measurements: Height, weight, body mass index, and blood pressure check (but not lab work unless scheduled separately).
  • Cognitive Assessment: A memory and mental processing review to spot early concern for brain health, decision skills, or potential decline.
  • Personalized Screening Schedule: Review and planning for vaccinations, cancer screenings, and chronic disease monitoring that should be addressed over the next 1–2 years.
  • Advanced Care and Preventive Planning: Discussion around Advance Directives, diet/exercise updates, medication review, screenings for depression, and fall risk assessment among older adults.
  • Your primary care provider then creates an updated written prevention plan, outlining personalized recommendations so collaboration between your checkups is seamless.

This visit is a NO-COST feature—no coinsurance or deductible applies unless you schedule/receive extra procedures, labs, or diagnostic visits not included in a prevention plan.

Tips to Prepare and Get Full Use from The Wellness Visit

  • List all your current medications—including vitamins and over-the-counter products—plus your local pharmacy/preferred doctors who prescribe regularly.
  • Update family and personal history, especially for heart, cancer, diabetes risks, or unexpected events since your last primary doctor appointment.
  • Plan your primary prevention/lifestyle priorities and questions. If considering exercise or diet goals or quitting tobacco, bring these up now for referrals or cost saving resources through your insurance partner.
  • Note observations about your mental sharpness and memory to bring up during cognitive assessment, and report changes or ongoing safety or falls worries honestly.
  • Ask about community resource connections or Medicare Advantage incentives—many plans support aging at home wellness upgrades using this prevention visit as its annual anchor.

Real Example: Jordan attends her annual visit armed with tracking sheets for weight, blood pressure, and previous questions. Her nurse sets up fall risk therapy referral, confirms that colon cancer screening is due next quarter, and adds updated living will preferences from a new directive into the medical record.

Long-Term Wellness Starts with Small Steps

With the right proactive questions and organization, the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit goes beyond box checking—it gives you a year’s head start on prevention. If you want personalized visit checklists, comparison of added benefits in local Advantage plans, or local resource lists for nutrition, fall-proofing, or brain health, contact Vista Mutual Insurance Services. We will ensure your healthcare planning is centered, coordinated, and future-ready, year after year.