Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients
Background The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) allows providers to acquire critical information about patients’ health through a review of vitals, environmental risks, and medical and family history. These visits are free to those enrolled in Medicare and prioritize patient–provider relationshi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2024-02-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Quality |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/13/1/e002554.full |
| _version_ | 1797222517396471808 |
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| author | Andrew Martin Brittany Strelow Rachel Olson Danielle O'Laughlin Sean Curran Joshua Perry Vincent Hurley Colleen Costello Majken Wingo |
| author_facet | Andrew Martin Brittany Strelow Rachel Olson Danielle O'Laughlin Sean Curran Joshua Perry Vincent Hurley Colleen Costello Majken Wingo |
| author_sort | Andrew Martin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) allows providers to acquire critical information about patients’ health through a review of vitals, environmental risks, and medical and family history. These visits are free to those enrolled in Medicare and prioritize patient–provider relationship building and preventative care. Despite this, AWV completion rates are suboptimal.Methods A quality improvement project was aimed to increase the percentage of AWVs among Medicare patients in a primary care internal medicine practice from a baseline of 1.7% completion to 2.7% in 3 months from January to April 2023.Intervention With eligible patients identified, a standardized approach was created where an AWV appointment was ordered, and a patient message explaining the benefit of the appointment was sent by the patient portal.Results Our AWV intervention resulted in 72 patients being seen for an AWV, which increased the percentage of completed AWVs in the division by 2.1% from 1.7% to 3.8% in 3 months.Conclusion This intervention will continue to improve AWV rates and improve patient care for Medicare patients in internal medicine. It could be applied to other areas of primary care and within other health systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T11:46:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-720a21e649fb47a6a72ba81a6b015bbf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2399-6641 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:22:35Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Quality |
| spelling | doaj.art-720a21e649fb47a6a72ba81a6b015bbf2024-04-04T12:10:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Quality2399-66412024-02-0113110.1136/bmjoq-2023-002554Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patientsAndrew Martin0Brittany Strelow1Rachel Olson2Danielle O'Laughlin3Sean Curran4Joshua Perry5Vincent Hurley6Colleen Costello7Majken Wingo8Physician Assistant Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAInternal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAUniversity of Minnesota Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota, USAInternal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAPhysician Assistant Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAPhysician Assistant Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAPhysician Assistant Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAPhysician Assistant Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USAInternal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USABackground The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) allows providers to acquire critical information about patients’ health through a review of vitals, environmental risks, and medical and family history. These visits are free to those enrolled in Medicare and prioritize patient–provider relationship building and preventative care. Despite this, AWV completion rates are suboptimal.Methods A quality improvement project was aimed to increase the percentage of AWVs among Medicare patients in a primary care internal medicine practice from a baseline of 1.7% completion to 2.7% in 3 months from January to April 2023.Intervention With eligible patients identified, a standardized approach was created where an AWV appointment was ordered, and a patient message explaining the benefit of the appointment was sent by the patient portal.Results Our AWV intervention resulted in 72 patients being seen for an AWV, which increased the percentage of completed AWVs in the division by 2.1% from 1.7% to 3.8% in 3 months.Conclusion This intervention will continue to improve AWV rates and improve patient care for Medicare patients in internal medicine. It could be applied to other areas of primary care and within other health systems.https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/13/1/e002554.full |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Martin Brittany Strelow Rachel Olson Danielle O'Laughlin Sean Curran Joshua Perry Vincent Hurley Colleen Costello Majken Wingo Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients BMJ Open Quality |
| title | Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients |
| title_full | Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients |
| title_fullStr | Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients |
| title_full_unstemmed | Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients |
| title_short | Closing the gap: improving the percentage of Annual Wellness Visits among Medicare patients |
| title_sort | closing the gap improving the percentage of annual wellness visits among medicare patients |
| url | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/13/1/e002554.full |
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