TOPLINE:

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage was associated with an increased likelihood of receiving an Annual Wellness Visit, especially among racial and ethnic minorities, those with dual eligibility, and those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers analyzed data of a nationally representative sample of Medicare claims from 2018 to 2019, focusing on the uptake of annual wellness visits across 50 states and Washington, DC.
• The study included more than 8.7 million beneficiaries, of whom 41.2% were enrolled in Medicare Advantage and 58.8% in traditional Medicare.
• The outcome measure was the receipt of an annual wellness visit in 2019, and the rate of uptake was compared between participants with each type of Medicare insurance coverage.
• Subgroup analyses were conducted on the basis of age, race and ethnicity, dual eligibility, status of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and chronic conditions.

TAKEAWAY:

• Participants enrolled in Medicare Advantage were 4.3 percentage points more likely to receive an annual wellness visit than those enrolled in traditional Medicare (P < .001).
• Enrollment in Medicare Advantage was associated with an increased probability of uptake of annual wellness visits across age groups, with the highest increase observed among those older than 85 years (5.6 percentage points; P < .001). It was also linked to an increased likelihood of uptake of annual wellness visits in those with dual eligibility (11.5 percentage points; P < .001).
• Among racial groups, beneficiaries of Medicare Advantage had an increased likelihood of uptake of visits among Black (8.9 percentage points), Hispanic (5.8 percentage points), and White (3.7 percentage points) individuals (P < .001 for all).
• Enrollment in Medicare Advantage was linked to a 6.6-percentage-point increased likelihood of uptake of visits among individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (P < .001) and a 3.7-percentage point increased likelihood among those without the condition (P < .001).

IN PRACTICE:

“These findings highlight Medicare Advantage’s potential role in promoting preventive care and health equity,” the authors wrote. “Balancing payment incentives with value-based care delivery remains critical to ensure that AWVs [Annual Wellness Visits] achieve their intended goals of equitable and efficient preventive care, particularly for the most vulnerable Medicare populations.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Zhang Zhang, PhD, of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. It was published online on October 7, 2025, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

LIMITATIONS:

The analysis is limited to the pre-COVID period. Key confounding factors, such as characteristics of providers and some health behaviors, may not be captured in the datasets. The study cannot fully determine if Medicare Advantage is associated with more new diagnoses or upcoding of patients.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by the National Institute on Aging. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.