We recommend that all of our patients get a good old-fashioned, hands-on, comprehensive physical exam performed by your doctor.  This exam helps identify cancer, diabetes, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, leukemia, anemia, parasites, kidney or liver disease, and other diseases that may not have symptoms but, when caught early, can result in better health.

This type of screening physical exam is not performed by most doctors because it is no longer a covered benefit by most insurance companies or Medicare.  As part of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Commercial insurance decided that a complete physical exam was not medically necessary and replaced it with the “Wellness Visit.”  Their wellness visit does NOT include any physical examination or the ability to deal with new or chronic medical conditions.  

The good news is that we still do a Physical Exam as part of your membership fee, because it is one of the most important tools we have for screening and prevention of diseases.  

Service	Commercial Insurance Wellness Visit	Medicare Annual Wellness Visit	OUR PHYSICAL
Physical Examination of the Patient			✔
Address any new medical problems			✔
Address any Chronic Medical problems			✔
Review your current Health		✔	✔
Review your family history		✔	✔
Medical Decision Making and Treatment Plan			✔
Male Genital Exam/Prostate Exam			✔
Female Genital Exam/Pap Smear	✔		Done by Gyn
Vital Signs and BMI	✔	✔	✔
Diet and Nutrition Info	Only for high risk		✔
STD screening/Prevention	Only for high risk		✔
Vaccination History and updates	✔	✔	✔
Alcohol Abuse Screening	✔		✔
Obesity Screening	✔		✔
Tobacco Screening	✔	✔	✔
Diabetes Screening	Only if you have high blood pressure		✔
Cholesterol Screening	For high risk only		✔
Depression Screening	✔	✔	✔
Colorectal Cancer Screening(over age 50)	✔		✔
Evaluate need for daily Aspirin	✔		✔
Establish List of Current Medical Providers		✔	✔
Screening for Memory Loss		✔	✔
Review Functional Ability and Safety		✔	✔
Review Necessary Age Appropriate Screenings	✔	✔	✔