A Sanford Health wellness visit represents a partnership between you and your primary care provider to help you reach and maintain your best health.
It can be an effective tool in pursuit of a longer life. A wellness visit can play a role in keeping minor issues minor. It can also help you maintain a dialogue with your provider that addresses your own medical history, your family’s medical history and the role you can play in improving or maintaining your health.
Andrew Burgard, M.D., practices family medicine at Sanford West Fargo Clinic in North Dakota, and Austin Spronk, M.D., practices family medicine primarily at Sanford Luverne Clinic in Minnesota. They treat acute and chronic conditions and provide preventive health care for newborns to older adults.
Dr. Burgard and Dr. Spronk talked with Sanford Health News about what you can expect with a wellness visit.
What is a wellness visit?
A wellness visit is a review of a patient’s health history and their family medical history, and it addresses any chronic conditions a patient is being treated for. Providers use that to create an individualized care plan for screenings and preventive interventions like vaccinations and cancer screenings that are recommended for them based on their age or their family history.
It’s important to have those conversations to make sure all the information is considered because it can vary from person to person.
Is a wellness visit the same as a preventive visit?
“I know the lingo sometimes gets a little confusing for people, but a wellness visit and a preventive visit are considered to be the same,” Dr. Burgard said.
A wellness visit or preventive visit includes a physical exam that checks vital signs like blood pressure, access to preventive services including cancer screenings and immunizations, and discussions about your health and lifestyle.
What type of questions and topics typically come up between doctor and patient during a wellness visit?
Common questions and topics that arise during a wellness visit include:
- What can I do for weight loss?
- Can we stop any of my medications?
- Do I need any vaccines? What do you think about these vaccines?
- Changes in your health history or family history over the last year. Knowing this information is key for creating a personalized preventive health care plan.
- Labs, preventive screenings and vaccinations that are due. These recommendations vary by age and health history.
- Your lifestyle and general health. Topics may include nutrition and exercise, quitting alcohol or tobacco, or mental and behavioral concerns.
Then typically at the end there will be recommendations on a care plan. If there are tests to be ordered, they can be scheduled at that time or at least have a plan to schedule them.
“We want our patients to have a good playbook in hand when you walk out the door,” Dr. Burgard said.
The adult wellness visit you describe is just one kind of visit. There are also child wellness visits and Medicare wellness visits. How do they vary?
A well child visit is very much going to focus on the development of the child and whether they’re meeting certain milestones.
“We want to determine if there are any delays that might need further attention or interventions. We will assess growth and make sure the child is growing appropriately,” Dr. Burgard said.
Vaccines are often a very important part of the well child visit and are often structured around the recommended vaccination schedule.
For Medicare wellness visits, there is a set guideline on the topics to be assessed, and it’s a little different than it is for people who are used to a regular adult physical. A Medicare wellness visit asks to have the provider review advance care planning.
If you haven’t set up an advance directive or care plan, your provider will ask you to consider that. If you need help with setting up an advance care plan, your provider can connect you to resources. There are also hearing and vision assessments and screenings that are part of a Medicare wellness visit that would not be part of a routine preventive visit.
Because of those requirements, there are only certain things that can be addressed. If it goes beyond those regulations, then that adds to the visit, and it might not be included within the insurance coverage of a Medicare visit.
How often should you have a wellness visit performed?
For most people, we recommend an annual wellness visit. For younger, healthier people who maybe aren’t on any medications, every two to three years might be more appropriate. Generally speaking, an annual visit is a good rule of thumb.
Why is an annual wellness visit important?
“What I love about seeing people on a regular basis for annual wellness visits is that it allows me to learn more about the patient’s baseline health functional status,” Dr. Spronk said. “It also allows me to have a more focused evaluation when an issue arises.
“For example, I have a patient with significant COPD who came to the emergency department with chest pain, and because I knew his lung history, I knew that rapidly focusing treatment on his lungs was the most important priority and was able to help him feel better faster – and reducing the risk of complications from continued respiratory distress.”
One of the biggest reasons for an annual visit is that the recommendations are ever-changing.
“Colon cancer screening guidelines, for instance, have changed in recent years,” Dr. Burgard said. “We’ve seen this year some newer vaccines are available. So by coming in for regular wellness visits, you can stay up to date with those changes and current guidelines which can catch potential health problems early or prevent them all together.”
What should you bring to a wellness visit?
It’s important to bring an understanding of your family history because that can affect the recommendations your provider makes for screening for some conditions. If you have concerns that have come up since your last visit, it could be helpful to write them down and bring them with you. Sometimes it’s helpful to bring a family member, too, to help listen to recommendations and be there when you’re discussing a care plan.
What is the cost of a wellness visit? Is it covered by insurance?
Generally, the preventive elements – the cancer screenings, the vaccinations and screening labs – will often be included in the cost of a wellness visit. But when questions about a new health concern or management of chronic conditions come up, then that may incur an additional charge within that visit or require a separate appointment.
Check with your insurance to find out what is covered. Occasionally people are surprised and frustrated by surcharges that can come out of a wellness visit so it’s best to know what your insurance plan covers.
Can I bring up new health concerns during a wellness visit?
A wellness visit is a reasonable time to bring up new health concerns. It’s important to understand that those may fall outside the context of a wellness visit and could incur an additional charge.
It is also important to know you don’t have to wait for your next wellness visit to discuss new problems with your provider. If it’s something that concerns you, you can certainly schedule a visit prior to your wellness visit to go over these new concerns.
“You and your doctor are on the same team to manage all medical issues that arise,” Dr. Spronk said. “You can describe your symptoms and the history of whatever issue you are dealing with, while your doctor has the experience of other patients with similar issues and the knowledge of what treatments are best to help you. Regular annual wellness visits allow you and your doctor to understand each other better to help manage all your medical issues as best as possible.”
If you’re interested in a wellness visit, what should you do?
You can schedule a visit either on My Sanford Chart by selecting a wellness visit or by calling your local clinic to schedule an appointment.
Learn more
- What is preventive care and how can it keep me healthy?
- APPs provide expert health care close to home
- How to choose a primary care physician in 4 steps
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Posted In Family Medicine, Fargo, Health Plan, Healthy Living, Internal Medicine, Senior Services
