Making Medicare Annual Wellness Visits more accessible and fair for older adults
Increasing the Feasibility, Impact, and Equity of the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV)
This project improves how Medicare Annual Wellness Visits are delivered to older adults so more people get recommended cancer screenings, vaccines, and other preventive care.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of California Los Angeles NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Los Angeles, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11311838 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If I'm an older adult, this project helps my clinic make Annual Wellness Visits easier to schedule and more useful by using electronic health record reminders, practice workflow changes, and targeted outreach. The team previously tested these approaches in small primary care practices and increased visit use, and now they plan to expand and refine those tools. The work focuses on patient-, provider-, and practice-level changes and pays special attention to reaching racial and ethnic minority groups and people with low income who often miss preventive care. My role would mainly be attending an AWV at a participating clinic or responding to outreach about overdue preventive services.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are Medicare-eligible older adults (particularly age 65+) who get primary care at participating clinics and may be overdue for preventive services.
Not a fit: People under Medicare age or those who do not receive care from participating clinics (or for whom preventive services are not appropriate due to limited life expectancy) are unlikely to benefit directly.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, more older adults could receive guideline-recommended screenings and vaccinations and have better preventive care overall.
How similar studies have performed: Earlier pilot work of this multilevel approach increased AWV use in small practices, but larger-scale, equity-focused implementation remains less tested.
Where this research is happening
Los Angeles, United States
- University of California Los Angeles — Los Angeles, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tarn, Derjung M — University of California Los Angeles
- Study coordinator: Tarn, Derjung M
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.