I tried to make an appointment this morning and was told “We’re no longer doing that or the Welcome to Medicare Visit”.
What is Included
Health Risk Assessment: A short questionnaire about your health status, risks, and behavioral habits.
Vital Measurements: Checks for height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and blood pressure.
Medical History Review: An update to your medical and family history, current prescription list, and primary care providers.
Cognitive and Safety Screening: Checks for memory loss, signs of depression, home safety, and fall risks.
Prevention Plan: A customized written schedule or checklist for future recommended screenings and shots. [1, 2, 3, 4] }}
Since I have a scale and blood pressure cuff at home, I’m confident I can handle this myself.
Maybe you still get if you sign up for the “Medicare VIP Service”? I’ll have to inquire on pricing. {{ LOL }}
I asked Google AI why they were no longer doing these visits.
{{ “Welcome to Medicare” and Annual Wellness Visits (AWV) are heavily regulated, time-intensive documentation and counseling appointments mandated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They require extensive reviews of medical/social history, complex functional and cognitive assessments, and personalized preventative screening schedules that typically cannot be streamlined into ZoomCare’s rapid-fire, localized clinical workflow. [1, 2]
Sort of to be expected with ZoomCare’s business model…basically a high volume urgent care setup. Mainly staffed by midlevels, right? I thought it was shutting up shop…at least, in this neck of the woods.
I got an appointment to see my PCP tomorrow (a Physician Associate). I’ll let you know what changes they’ve made. To date, I haven’t felt that they were rushing me out the door to see the next patient.
My PCP told me that staff were told in May that ZoomCare was no longer providing Primary Care services, and that they were supposed to send letters out informing patients of the change. No letters were sent.
ZoomCare’s web site says that they still provide Primary Care, just not the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit and Welcome to Medicare visit.
My PCP said that the change means that a patient technically isn’t suppose to list her a the patient’s primary care provider, but that she’d be happy to continue to see me since all my care is delivered through specialists and she’s only writing referrals for me for the most part.
It looks to me that ZoomCare hasn’t officially ended Primary Care services. No doubt that there is some additional liability for coordination of care with a Primary Care Provider. If they were unwilling to accept that risk, surely the letters informing the patients of the change would have been sent.
Well, it looks to me…and this is going purely by your account … the particular branch of ZoomCare that you’re using hasn’t really provided what most folk would consider Primary Care Services in the first place (which from the name implies something approaching proper doctoring…with, at least, a cursory exam with laying on of hands and stethoscope in order to diagnose any unexpected condition that a patient might not have been expected to be aware of)
I suspect that limiting her involvement with your issues to that of generating referrals suggests that your PA…or possibly the business model that uses her title to imply some sort of medical care…is aware that she’s possibly not equipped to actually perform in the role of physician impersonator and diagnose and possibly treat any medical issues that arise in someone with the comorbidities that usually go with failed revascularization surgery.
You might consider using this period of relative “wellness” to seek out someone/a practice that still attempts to do proper doctoring. Not an easy task, but a medical “home” is a valuable asset.
I was getting “proper doctoring” for 25 years by board certified MDs, all of whom missed the huge aneurysm growing above my knee. Clearly the “proper doctoring” approach has limited effectiveness.
I’m pretty sure I’d still have my leg if I had an AI doctor.
Are you sure about that? Granted, I have no knowledge of your history over this length of time but from what you’ve mentioned over recent years…with your description of one leg measurably larger than the other and being reassured that if you can walk five miles there can’t be much wrong … that doesn’t exactly comport with my definition of proper doctoring.
Granted, I am apparently perceived as being a worry wart but if asking for a bit more attention to a specific concern or, say, seeking a second opinion before returning to a surgeon who buggered up the first revascularisation attempt for a second bite of the cherry is a feature of worry wartdom…I can heartily recommend such self focus.
I did have large varicose veins in my right calf (but experience no pain or discomfort from them), so that led my doctors to assume that the swelling was simple venous insufficiency, with a prescription of as much exercise as you can tolerable and elevating the leg to relieve the swelling. So that was the standard of “proper doctoring” at Houston’s Methodist Hospital and Medical Center, one of the top cardiovascular centers in the World when my symptoms first appeared 25 years ago. My current status isn’t due to any lack of “proper doctoring”, it’s likely because of it.
When I saw my ZoomCare doc last Thursday she ordered a repeat of the CT scan they did last year, 2 weeks before the amputation. I questioned another a big dose of radiation, "Shouldn’t we wait until I see a another vascular specialist and let him direct the imaging? " She said, “I don’t want you to wait any longer, I’ll just order it myself.”
Never got that kind of proactive Medical care elsewhere – who would have guessed it would at Zoom Care?
I also have an appt in early September to see a cardiologist to perhaps get some imaging done of my chest
It’s not a “logical fallacy”. The AI doctor has the experience of reviewing 10 million or 100 million different patient records to come up with a diagnosis. No human doctor can match that.
I’ve now had 3 big medical problems over the last 50 years that have been “1 in a 100,000” diagnoses that most physicians never see. And they all appear to uncorrelated with each other (e.g., the brain tumor I had removed at age 32, has nothing to do with lupus nephritis at age 44 or the appearance of a calcified 25 year old aneurysm at 69.)
I’ve just been fortunate that otherwise I’m actually very healthy, and survived all the “one-offs” as they emerge. And, of course, my attention to the “skim, scam and fraud” of our health care system protected me from a possible bankruptcy due to all the above.
It is a logical fallacy because you have no basis by which to assume it would be correct when you are basing it on anecdotal error that was not to your benefit. AI has made medical mistakes. You have no way to verify that it would have been any more correct for you than your doctor was. The overwhelming majority of interactions with medical professionals is accurate. Yours unfortunately was not. Assuming AI would have necessarily gotten better is wishful thinking.
As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts
At least 10 people were injured between late 2021 and November 2025, according to the reports. Most allegedly involved errors in which the TruDi Navigation System misinformed surgeons about the location of their instruments while they were using them inside patients’ heads during operations.
Cerebrospinal fluid reportedly leaked from one patient’s nose. In another reported case, a surgeon mistakenly punctured the base of a patient’s skull. In two other cases, patients each allegedly suffered strokes after a major artery was accidentally injured.
I just spent a half hour on the phone trying to schedule the CT scan. Imaging clinic says they didn’t get the referral. I call ZoomCare and tell them to fax it again. They tell me that it’s waiting for “prior authorization”. I say, “What do you mean? I’m on regular Medicare, there is no prior authorization.”
“Doesn’t matter, our standards require us to send everything through the same prior authorization meat grinder.”
Me, “Let me talk to a supervisor.”
After a short wait clerk says, “I’m sending it now.’ Rayus should have it by tomorrow morning.”
So even if you’ve been careful to avoid Medicare Advantage, you’re still suffering from the poisonous effects of Medicare Advantage.
Some CT Scans Deliver Too Much Radiation, Researchers Say. Regulators Want To Know More.
KFF Health News, By Joanne Kenen, MARCH 12, 2025
“Under new Medicare regulations effective this year, hospitals and imaging centers must start collecting and sharing more information about the radiation their scanners emit… The requirements, rolled out in January, are being phased in over about three years for hospitals, outpatient settings, and physicians. Under the complicated reporting system, not every radiologist or health care setting is required to comply immediately. Providers could face financial penalties under Medicare if they don’t comply, though those will be phased in, too, starting in 2027.”
Fortunately, I’m returning to the same imaging clinic that did the CT scan a year ago on what appeared to be a brand new machine. The tray slid me in and out of the barrel in about 30 seconds. I’m assuming that means I got less radiation.
Because I understand how CT scans work. Newer models have algorithms that allow them to collect the same amount of data with improved image quality while exposing the patient to about 20% less radiation.
Same thing is going on with MRIs, but there is no radiation worry there. It just allows them to run up to 10 times as many patients through the machine each day while increasing Private Equity’s skim rate. Medical cost efficiencies rarely accrue to the patient.
You and me both, @intercst (as well as actual experience in radiology in general)…but I was just double checking that the “alternative observation” really was a remark thrown out in ignorance rather than useful insight I might’ve missed.
