What is the Benefit of Doing An Annual Physical in Two Visits?
We know it may seem unusual for two visits to do a complete annual physical, but in our experience with patients, we’re able to provide better medical care to you in doing so.
Moreover, we’ve found that it’s actually more effective for patients when we do this, because instead of leaving a cold voicemail with results, we’re able to provide a focused 1-1 session to discuss results and develop an action plan forward to improve your health and well-being if any results indicate a need for health or lifestyle adjustments.
Annual physicals are conducted in two separate appointments. Let’s break it down a bit, though:
The First Appointment
This visit is quick and focused on evaluating your current health status and reviewing whether any changes have occurred.
We also discuss any concerns you may have. Finally, based on your health status, recent changes, and concerns, we may order lab tests and blood work.
Why do we do it this way?
This allows us to evaluate if anything needs further evaluation - if so, we order the appropriate tests or bloodwork
Ordering any necessary labs during this appointment also helps with your insurance, as it’s connected to your annual physical. We’re helping make sure the tests are considered medically necessary. This will help with insurance provider coverage (in some cases, they won’t provide coverage without medical necessity).
This allows us to use your second appointment for a deep dive, with a full picture view of your health, using all the needed data in combination with your physical state and verbal updates to make a more accurate, comprehensive health assessment.
The Second Appointment
This is the deep-dive visit where we take all the information about your health and lifestyle to comprehensively assess your current health status and determine next steps.
What happens during this appointment?
Review and discuss the results of any ordered bloodwork, labs, and any other tests ordered. (This is much more effective than us calling and leaving a quick voicemail.)
Complete a full body system check
Answer any questions or concerns you have
Develop a plan for the next steps to help you improve your health and manage any concerning biomarkers or conditions.
Provide referrals to specialists if needed, so that you already have this taken care of.
Why do we do it this way?
Because informed decisions are more accurate, giving us and you a clearer picture of your health, health issues, and how to proceed.
By using your verbal updates, physical exam, and test results, we’re able to accurately determine health concerns that need to be addressed, the status of existing health conditions and how to manage them moving forward, and if you need additional support from a specialist.
This approach may seem cumbersome upfront, but we’ve found that this has helped our patients better utilize preventive care approaches and services, which are less costly than those for chronic and severe conditions.
By helping our patients proactively approach and manage their health with all the information upfront, we’re able to help them avoid the long-term, high-cost situations of managing complex chronic health conditions.
Patients struggling with poorer health long-term are often saddled with costs that add up from multiple medications, specialized medications for chronic conditions, and a more frequent need to see us and specialists. This all adds up through the year.
Our goal is to help you manage your health more proactively to help you also avoid higher costs and higher complications long-term.
If you have any questions about getting a physical or just need to make an appointment for one, contact our team today. You can also quickly book an appointment with us online here.