What is a wellness exam?
An annual exam is a preventative exam with your primary care provider for the sole purpose of preventative care. An annual doesn’t include discussion of new problems or detailed review of chronic conditions. In other offices, wellness visits are typically 15 minutes in length and cover screenings based on age, risk and gender. For example:
Physical exam
Checking your vitals
Personal and family history
Evaluating BMI
Vaccinations
Growth and Developmental screenings
Can I have a well visit and problem visit at the same time?
We strive to provide the most comprehensive care possible. A patient or parent may save questions or concerns until they come in for their well visit. While we allot more time than most primary care offices do for a well visit, it isn’t enough time to address all additional issues in detail. Instead of telling our patients that they need to come back for a separate visit to discuss problems, we are happy to address additional concerns as much as possible. However, this may result in supplementary codes being billed to your insurance, which are expenses that can be incurred by the patient when applied to your deductible or you may owe a copay.
What is the difference between a wellness exam and a problem visit?
Preventative or wellness visits and tests ordered by your provider can help you stay healthy and catch problems early. Problem visits are used to diagnose and treat a current health problem. For example, your provider might want you to have a test because of your age or family history, that is preventative care, but if it’s because you’re having symptoms like eczema or abdominal pain, that’s diagnostic problem focused care.
What makes well visits in our office different?
At Thrive, we aim to go above and beyond what you would experience in another office by providing more time with our patients face to face. We believe in comprehensive, personalized healthcare. During your visit we discuss nutrition, sleep, exercise, development for children, stress and more. These are all parts of your life that impact your health.