Relatively few Medicare beneficiaries have been taking advantage of an existing free wellness exam for newcomers to the program or a free annual wellness benefit available to all beneficiaries starting this year, according to a report by the American Medical News.
Of more than 2 million seniors who become eligible for Medicare every year, only about 100,000 use the initial wellness visit, known as the “Welcome to Medicare” exam, which has been available since 2005. This year, only 298,000 beneficiaries received the new annual wellness benefit between Jan. 1 and March 23.
Observers cite a lack of physician awareness of the exams or physicians’ attitudes about the time and resources they must apply to the exams — which some of them they feel are of limited use — as possible reasons for low utilization. Many physicians already provide annual checkups that involve more diagnosis and less recordkeeping.
Read the American Medical News report on Medicare.
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