Lindsborg clinic sees quick success boosting Medicare Wellness Visits
The Family Health Care Clinic team includes Karna Peterson (back row, fifth from right) and Julie Worcester (back row fourth from left), who led the push to increase Annual Wellness Visits among the clinic's Medicare patients.Annual Wellness Visits are a regular opportunity for Medicare patients and their physicians to give special attention to personalized prevention plan. Needed screenings are performed or scheduled, risk factors and treatment options are addressed, and diet, home safety, and available community resources can be discussed, among other things.
“It’s a time to give guidance or encouragement on important aspects of wellness that a provider and patient may not have time to discuss in a typical office visit,” said Karna Peterson, Clinic Manager at Family Health Care Clinic, which is part of Lindsborg Community Hospital.
Family Health Care Clinic (FHCC) was already exceeding the national average for percentage of patients getting Annual Wellness Visits (or AWVs), but they wanted to do better.
“We were seeing a lot of patients who weren’t taking advantage of all the screenings that they were eligible for, and the Annual Wellness Visit is a dedicated time to make sure that recommendations were done,” said Peterson. “I feel like it’s our duty as health care providers to help patients understand their benefits and the health care they have access to and can benefit from.”
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