How to prepare for your doctor’s visit

Tips for getting the most out of your visit

An annual wellness visit can be an important part of your overall care plan. Your annual wellness visit is available to you through your plan benefits at no cost to you. During your annual wellness visit is the perfect time to ask your doctor any questions you may have about your health. Here are some tips that can help you get the most out of your annual wellness visit.

Ask questions

Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. It’s important that you know what your doctor is telling you. If your doctor is explaining a treatment or medical concept that is unclear, ask for more details. You should also make sure that you ask any questions you may have about your health since your last visit. Don’t hold back any details. Make sure you tell your doctor everything about your health so they can give you the best advice and treatment.

We have a questions list you can print out to write down your questions so you can bring them to your next visit.

Take notes with you

Write down everything you need to talk to you doctor about during your visit. Include any questions you may have and write down things you may be likely to forget in your visit, like your personal and family medical history. Make a list of your prescriptions and dosages and over-the-counter medicine, vitamins and supplements you may be taking. We have a medication list you can print out that can be used to record your medications.

You should also consider taking notes while you are meeting with your doctor. You can take notes in a notebook, or you can print out this doctor visit tracker and take it with you to keep track of what your doctor tells you.

Think about bringing someone with you

It might be helpful to bring a close friend or relative with you to your visits. They can remind you of what you wanted to talk about, help you remember what your doctor tells you or even take notes for you. You can ask this person to wait in the waiting room if you have private concerns to address with your doctor.

Also, you can request an interpreter for your visit if there are any language barriers so you can get health information from your visit in your preferred language.

More benefits available to you

In addition to having an annual wellness visit included as part of your plan benefits, you have more benefits available to you at no cost under your Medicare Advantage plan. From vision benefits available through Vision Service Plan (VSP) to hearing benefits through TrueHearing, you have many benefits you can take advantage of. Find out more about these benefits on our Medicare Extras page.

 

Posted: April 6, 2022

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