Most health issues don't appear overnight. Your Annual Wellness Exam (AWE), also called an annual physical or annual check-up, is a yearly preventive visit that helps you stay proactive about your health through early risk detection, personalized prevention strategies, and ongoing provider support.
Confirm your benefits and Annual Wellness Exam coverage directly with your insurance before your appointment.
What to expect during your exam
Your first appointment is 30 minutes. Your provider completes a personalized review of your health history, medications, vaccinations, and wellness needs, including:
Your vital signs, such as blood pressure, resting heart rate, and temperature. If your provider needs vitals during a video exam, you can have them taken at your local pharmacy.
Your medical and family history
Your current prescriptions and supplements
Diet, exercise, sleep, stress, and alcohol or substance use. This is a chance to talk honestly with a provider who's there to help, not judge.
Mental and cognitive wellness. Your exam gives you a dedicated space to talk about stress, anxiety, focus, or mood. You don't have to wait until things feel urgent to ask for help.
Preventive screenings based on your age, health history, and risk factors, so you're only doing what's relevant for you. These can include diabetes and blood sugar, high blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid function, and cancer risk screenings.
Together, you'll create a preventive health plan tailored to your goals and lifestyle.
Blood work: When appropriate, your provider can order same-day blood work at a lab near you. Your provider reviews your results and sends you a description of the findings in the mobile app or web portal. If your results are normal, you follow up as previously discussed. If anything looks off, we recommend a follow-up appointment to go over the results and create a treatment plan.
A well-woman exam is a different visit. It covers reproductive care such as a pelvic exam and Pap smear, and it does not replace your annual physical. A pelvic exam and Pap smear have to be done in person, so Circle Medical cannot offer a well-woman exam over video. If you need one, your provider can refer you to a clinic that does it in person.
How often to schedule one
An Annual Wellness Exam is a once-a-year visit. Many insurance plans cover one preventive exam every 12 months. If you already had one with another provider in the last 12 months, you can share those records instead of booking a new exam.
Book a Video Wellness Exam with Circle Medical
Book a Video Wellness Exam in the mobile app or web portal. San Francisco Bay Area patients may book an in-person Annual Wellness Exam at our San Francisco office when availability is open.
Sharing your past checkup records
If you prefer to complete your exam with another primary care provider, upload your medical records in the Health Records tab of the mobile app or web portal. Your provider can also send them to us:
Fax: (888) 803-3331
Email: [email protected]
Send the full appointment notes. An After Visit Summary or appointment receipt is not enough.
Insurance and billing
With many insurance plans, your virtual annual physical is $0. In-person annual physicals are usually covered in full, but coverage for telemedicine annual physicals varies by plan.
Annual Wellness Exams are covered for preventive care only. If the main reason for the visit is treatment for a specific problem, the visit is billed as a regular appointment. For example, getting treatment for a broken arm would not be billed as a preventive visit, even if it happens during an appointment you booked as a wellness exam.
You may also see a charge or copay if:
You already had a preventive exam within the last 12 months. A second exam in that window is billed as a regular visit.
Your plan doesn't cover telehealth physicals. Some plans require annual exams to be completed in person.
If your Annual Wellness Exam isn't covered
Call member services (the number is usually on the back of your insurance card) and ask whether your plan covers virtual physicals or video wellness exams offered through telehealth. Ask your insurance about your options.
See our appointment costs article for self-pay rates. There are no membership costs or hidden fees.