Preventive Care and Outcomes of Interprofessional Medicare Annual Wellness Visits for Older Adults

Abstract

As we anticipate a growing population of older adults, we will see an increase in chronic conditions such as dementia and falls. To meet these public health needs, we must systematically provide screening, education, preventive care, and supportive care for older patients and their caregivers in a primary care setting. This will require a workforce trained in providing for the complex medical and psychosocial needs of an older adult population in an interprofessional and collaborative fashion. By integrating geriatric screening tools into an interdisciplinary Annual Wellness Visit teaching clinic, we were able to successfully improve rates of geriatric screening for dementia, depression, falls, medication reconciliation and advance care planning. We also saw improvements in patient care and satisfaction and provided the opportunity for interprofessional collaboration and education for students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and social work.

Episodic memory assessment: effects of sex and age on performance and response time during a continuous recognition task

“…In 2011, Medicare added detection of cognitive impairment to its annual wellness visit. 3 The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ guidance recommends assessing a patient’s learning, memory and cognitive functions by direct observation, including consideration of information and concerns reported by the patient, family members, friends, caregivers, and others, and, if appropriate, using a brief validated, structured assessment tool to objectively measure these functions ( Masuda et al, 2022 ). MemTrax could provide data to the clinician for use in the objective evaluation of impairments expressed by the patient or caregiver during the in-office or virtual healthcare interview and for directing application of additional testing ( Ashford et al, 2022b ).…”

Toward digitally screening and profiling AD: A GAMLSS approach of MemTrax in China

“…First, individuals within the third to 10th percentiles in the lower limit of the population performance for age could be at high risk for cognitive impairment. Accordingly, such individuals should take cognitive checkups periodically or have ongoing follow‐ups, including MemTrax tests (and of great relevance in the United States for the Medicare Annual Wellness visit mandated cognitive function assessment 41 ). Individuals who perform below 3% of the lower limit of the population for their age may have cognitive impairment, so the recommendation is to have a clinical evaluation and intervention as appropriate.…”