If you're 65 or older and on Medicare, you have a benefit most Broward County seniors never use: a free Medicare Annual Wellness Visit every single year. No copay, no deductible, no coinsurance — just a yearly conversation with your primary care physician that is engineered to catch problems before they become emergencies and to keep you living independently longer.

This guide from the care team at Metropolitan Medical Centers in Tamarac, FL walks through exactly what the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) covers, how it differs from a traditional annual physical, the nine standard components your physician should walk through with you, what to bring, and when to book yours.

Why the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Matters for Broward County Seniors

Federal Medicare data shows that fewer than half of eligible seniors actually use their Annual Wellness Visit benefit each year — even though it is fully covered. The reasons are usually the same: most people assume it is the same thing as a physical exam, or they don't realize the visit exists at all. That is a missed opportunity, because the AWV is designed to do four things that a routine sick visit usually can't:

• Catch silent risk factors early — cognitive changes, depression, fall risk, and uncontrolled blood pressure are all screened during the AWV, often before symptoms are obvious.
• Build a personalized 5- to 10-year prevention plan — including a calendar of recommended screenings (colon, breast, lung, bone density), immunizations, and lab work tailored to your specific health profile.
• Pull every medication into one full review — prescription, over-the-counter, and supplements — to flag dangerous interactions, especially for seniors managing chronic conditions.
• Establish a relationship with a primary care physician who knows your history before a crisis happens.

For South Florida seniors managing the combination of heat, humidity, multiple medications, and the routine challenges of aging, that yearly check-in is the single highest-leverage preventive appointment Medicare offers.

Medicare Annual Wellness Visit vs. Annual Physical: What's Free and What's Billed

This is the single biggest source of confusion. The AWV is a preventive screening visit — not a head-to-toe physical exam. Medicare does not cover routine annual physicals the way most private insurance does. Here is how the three categories break down:

The 9 Things Your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Should Cover

Medicare specifies the standard components of an AWV. A complete visit at Metropolitan Medical Centers walks through every one of these in a single appointment:

1. 1. Health Risk Assessment (HRA) questionnaire A short self-report covering your overall health, daily activities, mental status, substance use, and social support. The HRA is the foundation of the entire visit — everything that follows is tailored to what you report here. You'll usually fill it out in the waiting room or online ahead of time.
2. 2. Personal and family medical history review Your physician will review your conditions, hospitalizations, surgeries, and your family history of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia. New family diagnoses since your last visit matter — they change your personal screening recommendations.
3. 3. Current providers and full medication list review Bring every prescription, over-the-counter pill, vitamin, and supplement bottle — not just a written list. Your primary care physician will check for dangerous interactions, duplications, fall-risk drugs (sleep aids, certain blood pressure meds, opioids), and any prescription that may no longer be needed. This single step prevents thousands of senior hospitalizations every year.
4. 4. Routine measurements Height, weight, BMI, blood pressure, and pulse. These baseline vitals are tracked year over year. A sudden change — an unexplained weight loss or a rising blood pressure trend — can be one of the earliest signals of a condition like hypertension or thyroid imbalance.
5. 5. Cognitive impairment screening A brief in-office test — often a clock-drawing task, a short word recall, or the Mini-Cog — to screen for early signs of memory loss, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia. Catching these early opens the door to treatments and planning that work best in the earliest stages.
6. 6. Depression and mood screening A short questionnaire (often the PHQ-2 or PHQ-9) screens for depression — which is significantly underdiagnosed in older adults and frequently mistaken for fatigue, sleep changes, or "just getting older." Treating depression in seniors improves nearly every other health outcome.
7. 7. Functional ability and fall-risk screening Your physician will ask about balance, recent falls, difficulty with stairs, and basic activities of daily living. If anything looks concerning, the AWV is the gateway to a full fall risk assessment and prevention plan — a major focus for our Broward County senior patients.
8. 8. Personalized prevention plan and 5- to 10-year screening schedule Your physician hands you a written, personalized plan: which screenings you're due for (colonoscopy, mammogram, bone density, low-dose lung CT for current/former smokers), which immunizations you need (flu, shingles, pneumonia, RSV, COVID booster), and lab work appropriate for your conditions like diabetes management tests if applicable.
9. 9. Advance care planning conversation (optional) A discussion of your wishes for future medical care — living will, healthcare power of attorney, advance directives. This conversation is completely optional, never rushed, and you can return to it at any future visit. Most seniors find it surprisingly empowering once they have it.

What an Annual Wellness Visit Looks Like at Metropolitan Medical Centers

At Metropolitan Medical Centers in Tamarac, your AWV is built as a complete visit, not a checkbox. Our care team coordinates primary care, on-site lab, pharmacy review, fall risk screening, and social services so that you leave with a clear written plan in hand — not a stack of referrals to chase yourself.

• Standard 45- to 60-minute appointment with your primary care physician — not a 10-minute screening
• Bilingual staff — English and Spanish — for complete comfort throughout your visit
• On-site diagnostic lab so any same-day bloodwork can be drawn without a second appointment
• Coordinated medication review with our pharmacy team for every prescription, supplement, and OTC drug you take
• Same-day referrals to physical therapy, vision care, and specialists when warranted
• Complimentary door-to-door transportation — so getting to your visit is never the obstacle
• Accepts Medicare Advantage: Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Aetna/CVS, CarePlus, Cigna, Oscar — with same-day eligibility verification by phone

What to Bring to Your Medicare Annual Wellness Visit

Coming prepared makes the visit dramatically more productive. Bring all of the following:

• Your Medicare card and any Medicare Advantage plan card
• Every medication bottle — prescriptions, over-the-counter pills, vitamins, supplements, eye drops, and inhalers (the actual bottles, not a written list)
• Recent specialist names and contact info — cardiologist, endocrinologist, ophthalmologist, neurologist
• Family medical history — especially heart disease, diabetes, cancer, dementia, and stroke in parents and siblings
• Recent immunization records if you have them — flu, shingles, pneumonia, RSV, COVID booster dates
• A short written list of any concerns, symptoms, or questions you want to raise with your physician (write them down the night before so nothing gets forgotten)

When to Schedule Your Annual Wellness Visit

You can book your AWV any time after the first 12 months of your Medicare Part B coverage. After your first AWV, you become eligible for another one every 12 months and one day. Many Broward County seniors schedule it around their birthday month — it makes the yearly cadence easy to remember and ensures no gap in coverage.