An annual wellness eye exam completes the annual physical

Have you been taking good care of yourself?  If you have, odds are you also see a physician once a year to maintain an active chart (if you go less than every 3 years, you do not have a doctor of record as an established patient according to federal guidelines) and to check your health status once a year.  We refer to it as the annual wellness or annual physical exam.  This isn’t done when you have problems and it is generally covered up to a very small copay with your medical insurance.

Wellness visits in eye care are done through vision plans in a very similar fashion.  A set number of tests are done at every visit just like at the doctor’s office.  Here it’s color, depth perception, acuity, and eye pressure (no puff); at the doctor’s office it’s height and weight, blood pressure, lung and heart sounds, and appearance of the ear canal and throat.  If something is found, additional tests are ordered and billed to your medical insurance with additional visits made necessary.  The same is true at your wellness eye exam where the doctor also accepts major medical insurance.  Be sure your eye doctor can continue to see you if you need a test and further evaluation and management.  Always ask about your medical insurance as well as your vision plan insurance for wellness visits.

Eye doctors who accept medical insurance identify, evaluate, manage, and treat eye disease ranging from diabetes, cholesterol, autoimmune disorders, and high blood pressure (hypertension) to lazy eye (amblyopia), eye turn/wandering eye (strabismus), glaucoma, macular generation, cataracts, and cancers of the eye.  Only a trained professional will rule out all these conditions and more at a wellness eye exam and check your vision.  So be sure to have your wellness eye exam at a location where the eye doctor can provide you medical eye care under your medical insurance if you need more than a vision test, and get your wellness eye exam every year to complete the annual physical.  And while you’re there have them test with the best preventative care available.

And if you happen to be an athlete or know someone who relies heavily on their visual processing skills, be sure to complete your annual sports physical by seeing a sports vision doctor annually.

-Dr. Mark W. Burke

Sports Vision and Medical Eye Doctor at 4Sight iCare