I’ve been on Medicare for less than 2 years, so not a lot of personal experience yet. However, I accompanied both my parents to all their medical appointments from 2010 thru my dad’s passing in 2015 & my mom’s in 2022. That included all their annual wellness visits. Not once did their doctor say they couldn’t bring up any new issues or concerns, nor has mine in the last 2 years. To the contrary, the doctors, practitioners & PAs have specifically asked if we had any concerns or issues we wanted to address. My parents primary was a wonderfully compassionate woman who would spend over an hour with each of them. I doubt Medicare has rules that say the provider can’t address new issues. The problem is, they won’t pay the doctor extra for doing so. So the individual office sets a policy that you can’t ask about new problems. They have you make another appointment to get paid separately for that. That is not how all medical practices operate.
As for the screening forms, clock drawing & word memory, they serve a purpose. I do my screening forms online before my appointment. They don’t do the memory screening, but I’m 66. I assume once the nurse meets & starts talking to me, they see they don’t need it. I expect down the road sometime, they’ll eventually start memory screening for me too. My parents were in their 80s, with declining health. Plus my mom had vascular dementia after 2 strokes. Assessing their memories was a necessary part of a complete health screening & assessment of their overall well-being. So, yes, they were asked to draw a clock & remember the words penny, apple & table. Hmm, I can still remember the words they were asked to remember, so I guess I’d pass the memory screening after all.
