The Effectiveness of Medicare Wellness Visits in Accessing Preventive Screening

Under the American Affordable Care Act, Medicare insurance beneficiaries receive free Annual Wellness Visits (AWV); there is a need to examine the effectiveness of these visits. The purpose of this study is to examine their impact on subsequent screening rates.

Using 2011-2014 Medicare FFS (fee-for-service) claims data, seven preventive care services, including vaccinations and cancer screenings were compared among beneficiaries who received and did not receive AWVs. Inverse probability treatment weights were used to achieve covariate balance between groups.

Nonrecipients were less likely to receive any of the 7 services compared with recipients of AWVs (63% vs 88%). The total number of services that the AWVs group received was 62% higher than nonrecipients. Subgroup analyses show that wellness visits were high across age groups, race/ethnic groups, rural/urban context, and counties of different economic development status.

These results are consistent with the view that wellness visits improve screening rates and thus serve to reduce cancer burden.