Annual Wellness Visits (AWVs) are an important, but underused Medicare benefit. It is estimated that half of Medicare beneficiaries don’t receive them. Research has shown that AWVs were associated with significantly reduced spending on hospital acute care and outpatient services. Patients who received an AWV in the index month experienced a 5.7% reduction in adjusted total healthcare costs over the ensuing 11 months.
There are many reasons that AWVs are underused, one of which is the additional complexity encountered when patients introduce issues that are beyond the scope of AWV design. A new article by Wellman, et. al., describes a process to improve AWV utilization which involves scheduling combined AWV and problem-based forty-minute visits with the provider that the patient most often sees. These combined appointments allow patients to complete the Medicare annual wellness visit and, if needed, have regular medical issues handled in the same visit with their regularly seen physician. Clinician education and targeted scheduling to focus on those at greatest need were also a part of the approach. When combined, the techniques markedly increased the volume of AWVs and decreased the volume of no-shows. The article offers some instructive ideas for those who are working to make AWVs a priority in their practice.
Michigan Multipayer Initiatives 