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Enhancing Care for Older Adults Through the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit
Jennifer Wolff, Aleksandra Wec, Nicole E. Werner. Innovation in Aging, 2025-12-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Abstract The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) is a preventive care service which collects patient-reported information and supports the creation of a personalized prevention plan to address identified patient needs. Recent studies indicate that having a billed AWV is associated with increases in preventive care services such as vaccinations, cancer screening, and dementia diagnosis. However, there is variation in patient subpopulations who receive the AWV and the opportunities to enhance implementation of the visit to better meet the needs of older adults. This session offers insights into the AWV from different contexts, including population-, health system-, and implementation-level. The first session uses a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries to provide an overview of the differential uptake of the AWV across Medicare insurance coverage type (Traditional Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage), highlighting heterogenous impact by age, race, and health status. The next session examines the AWV at a health system level, by drawing on electronic health record data to identify the frequency of follow-up actions taken after memory concerns are reported during the AWV. The third session presents a pilot study seeking to improve dementia care pathways by testing workflow enhancements via nurse-led AWVs. Attendees of this symposium will take away key insights for potential improvements to the AWV. The session discussant will offer thoughts on how the AWV can meet the needs of a diverse population of older adults while aligning with health system priorities.
Key findings
- Recent studies indicate that having a billed AWV is associated with increases in preventive care services such as vaccinations, cancer screening, and dementia diagnosis.
Why it matters
This session summary notes that receiving a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is associated with increases in services such as dementia diagnosis, and describes efforts to improve dementia care pathways. It does not test a treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 28/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on institution's track record, so that was left out: it earned 27 of the 97 points we could judge it on, which is 28 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Innovation in Aging) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | Innovation in Aging: journal h-index 48 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 0 / 7 | Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 0 / 5 | 0.0 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 0 / 6 | Cited 0.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 2 / 4 | Last-listed author Nicole E. Werner: h-index 37 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 0 institution(s) in 0 countries — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 27 / 97 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 27 of the 97 points we could judge it on is 28 out of 100. |
| Total | 28 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Wolff, J., Wec, A., & Werner, N. E. (2025). Enhancing Care for Older Adults Through the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. Innovation in Aging. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaf122.1065
Vancouver
Wolff J, Wec A, Werner NE. Enhancing Care for Older Adults Through the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit. Innovation in Aging. 2025. doi:10.1093/geroni/igaf122.1065.
BibTeX
@article{wolff2025-f593815b,
author = {Wolff, Jennifer and Wec, Aleksandra and Werner, Nicole E.},
title = {{Enhancing Care for Older Adults Through the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit}},
journal = {Innovation in Aging},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1093/geroni/igaf122.1065},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaf122.1065}
}
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