Retirement Planning
Medicare Annual Wellness Visit Checklist for Retirees
What to prepare before a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit, what it is for, and how families can use it to update care plans.
The Medicare Annual Wellness Visit is a prevention-planning visit, not a full physical exam. It is still useful because it creates or updates a personalized prevention plan, reviews health risks, and can help families raise concerns before a crisis.
What to bring
- Current medications, supplements, pharmacies, and allergies.
- Names of doctors, therapists, home care agencies, and community services.
- Fall history, mobility changes, memory concerns, mood changes, and sleep problems.
- Recent hospital visits, new diagnoses, and caregiver concerns.
- Advance care planning questions or decision-maker updates.
What Medicare says
Medicare explains the benefit on its yearly wellness visits page. CMS also describes the Annual Wellness Visit as a chance to update the personalized prevention plan and referrals for health education, counseling, and community-based services on its Annual Wellness Visit page.
Family use
After the visit, update the emergency contact sheet, medication list, fall-prevention plan, and care-cost estimates. If the clinician recommends more supervision, therapy, transportation support, or cognitive evaluation, convert those recommendations into specific family tasks.