Why Your Yearly Wellness Exam Matters

Mark Twain once mused: “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.”

While there might be a sliver of truth to that adage, there is so much more to maintaining good health – and it all begins with getting annual wellness examinations.

Key Takeaways: Annual Wellness Exams

• Scheduling your annual well visit or annual physical with your primary care physician can help catch potential health issues early, before they become serious.
• Annual preventive health exams can help you focus on keeping a healthy lifestyle while identifying important screening tests, vaccinations and other needed testing.  
• Medicare wellness visits do not include a physical exam but focus on screenings and risk assessments.

What Is An Annual Wellness Exam?

An annual wellness visit is a yearly doctor’s appointment with your primary care provider to create or update a personalized prevention plan. This plan may help prevent illness based on your current health and risk factors.

Routine check-ups have several benefits, including:

• Better detection and treatment of chronic illnesses such as depression and high blood pressure
• An increase in screenings for diseases like cancer
• Improvement in how patients actually feel after a visit, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“These appointments encourage healthy habits, check for underlying conditions, provide immunizations, order appropriate screening tests and provide individuals with a detailed assessment of their current health,” said Mohammad Wadud, DO, a Dyer family medicine doctor with Franciscan Physician Network. “In other words, they are essential to maintaining your quality of life.”

What's Included During An Annual Wellness Exam?

We always hear that we need to get an annual wellness exam, but what exactly is done during these visits?

• Vitals and system check including heart rate, blood pressure, weight and BMI
• Discuss screening tests and bloodwork to detect cancer, diabetes, kidney and heart disease
• Assessment of diet, sleep pattern, exercise habits and stress levels
• Review and evaluation of medications and supplements
• Additional tests, evaluations and consultations for patients with chronic diseases are scheduled
• Update vaccinations

"Showing up and spending time in your primary care doctor's annual visits, I can't stress how important that is," said Dr. Wadud. "I think we all get sort of in that mindset that we're busy with life and taking care of kids and having a stressful job. And the first thing that often goes is we say, 'Look, I feel fine. There's no reason to go see the primary care doctor unless I have a problem.' And I would argue that is the logic that we need to get over.

"We need to understand that prevention means this is the reason why we go for colonoscopies, even though you're not having symptoms to pick up a colon cancer. This is why showing up in your doctor's office for their annual visits to check on your blood pressure, to do a physical exam, to pick up things that you may not notice are going on would really be important. Make a priority to go to your annual visits with your primary care doctor, and be able to do a lot of these preventative therapies."

Why Are Annual Wellness Exams Important?

Miguel Pena, MD, a Franciscan Physician Network primary care physician in Chesterton, Ind., recommends that even a healthy person with no particular issues should still see their doctor once a year.

"At that point, we can determine what risk factors are present, and tailor labs to what we find during the physical," Dr. Pena said. "The annual exam is also important to build the relationship between doctor and patient."

Wellness exams are an opportunity for providers and patients to establish a closer rapport, formulate a plan to optimize individual long-term health goals and give the patient a dedicated time to ask questions, Dr. Wallace said.

At What Age Should You Start Getting Annual Wellness Exams?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends “selective” screenings based on specific health factors and demographics, rather than offering a blanket recommendation for annual exams.

Your doctor can help you determine whether yearly exams are in your best interest and assist you in scheduling the necessary care.

How Are Wellness Exams Different From Medicare Wellness Visits?

Medicare wellness visits, covered under Medicare Part B, do not include a physical examination but focus on a personalized plan to help you prevent disease or disability, based on your current health and risk factors. The visits include a health risk assessment, cognitive assessments to look for risks of dementia, and a review of your risk factors for substance abuse disorder or opioid use disorder.

Can You Do Wellness Exams Virtually?

Virtual visits, often referred to as telehealth, have become increasingly routine. 

“A virtual visit is effective and still provides a way for a patient to have an exclusive one-on-one interaction with the provider.” Dr. Wadud said.