4 Seeing your provider regularly is essential to both your current and future health. If you have been enrolled in Medicare Part B for more than 12 months, you are eligible for one no-cost wellness visit each year. If you just enrolled, don’t worry — you also receive a no-cost “welcome” visit. These appointments allow your provider to monitor your well-being and detect and treat new health concerns as early as possible. What does it include? • You will fill out a questionnaire to help your provider assess your health. • Your provider will measure your height, weight, and blood pressure. • They will also screen for any issues with memory or cognition. • You will review your medical history together and talk about risk factors or treatment options for any current conditions. • Your provider will create a healthcare plan for your next five to 10 years. This may include recommended screenings, vaccines, or new medications. There may be additional costs if you need tests or procedures that are not considered routine or are not covered by Medicare. How should I prepare? 1. Bring any relevant medical information with you; for example, vaccine records and current prescriptions. 2. Know your family medical history. Your provider will use this information when recommending other tests or health checks. 3. Make a note of anything you might want to discuss. For example, do you want to plan advance directives or think about making your home safer? To protect your health and make the most of your coverage, don’t delay in scheduling your next annual visit. Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; HealthinAging.org; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Presbyterian’s Quality Improvement Program Presbyterian Health Plan’s Quality Improvement (QI) Program is committed to providing quality care and services to our Medicare members. We have a comprehensive QI Program that evaluates the care and services you receive. Our goal is to work continually to improve your experience with care and services. The QI Program includes: • Member experience activities •Quality and safety of clinical care •Quality of service •Annual goals, processes, and activities At the end of each year, we evaluate the QI Program to not only see how we did, but to see what we can do to better serve you the following year. We learned and implemented many new ways to better serve you in 2022 that we have taken into 2023. Here are a few of our 2022 activities and results: •We performed an in-depth analysis of our data to identify how best to serve our members, more effectively coordinate individualized care, and address social determinants of health, if any. Social determinants of health are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, and worship, and their age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). • We decreased the hospitalization readmission rates for members with the help of our Care Coordination, Community Health Worker, and Peer Support Worker teams. • We utilized member mailings and educational brochures to provide important information on depression symptoms, screening, and treatment. We also worked with providers to increase the number of depression screenings and to encourage antidepressant medication conversations. We look forward to continuing to serve you in 2023. Make the most of your annual wellness visit
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