Medicare annual wellness visits. Understanding the patient and physician perspective.

Since 2011, Medicare has covered annual wellness visits (AWVs), yet few who are eligible for this benefit take advantage of it. To better understand why, we interviewed physicians and patients within our St. Louis Park-based health system. The interview questions were designed to identify physicians' and patients' perceptions of the value of the AWV and reasons people don't take advantage of this Medicare benefit. This article presents the results of this qualitative study and offers strategies health care organizations can.adopt to promote more effective, consistent use of AWVs. These strategies include standardizing policies regarding the AWV across the organization and incorporating them into team care.