How It Works

Booking an annual physical is simpler than the thinking that goes into it.

What Actually Happens

An annual physical is not a sick visit. You come in feeling well. The visit looks for what has changed since last year.

Which labs and screenings you need depends on your age, your history and your risk. Your provider will walk you through each one.

Who and When

Once every twelve months is the rule, and the twelve months is not a suggestion. It is how your insurer counts.

Most plans cover one preventive visit per 365 days. That clock starts at your last annual physical with any provider, not just this one. Book at eleven months and the visit can be denied, which is how a covered appointment turns into a bill nobody expected.

If you have moved practices, changed jobs or seen someone at an urgent care who ran a physical, check the date before you book. The front desk can help you work it out.

Everyone, every year, at every age. Several groups need one for a particular reason too.

• Anyone feeling wellThe whole point. A physical is designed for people with no symptoms, because that is when the quiet problems show up.
• Students and athletesSports programs usually require a yearly exam. If your annual physical is due, the sports form can often be handled in the same visit.
• Employees with health plansMany employers ask for biometric screening or a completed physical to qualify for a premium discount.
• Anyone managing a conditionIf you already take something for blood pressure, cholesterol or thyroid, the yearly visit is where the dose gets reviewed.
• Anyone who has moved hereEstablishing care before you need it beats finding a doctor in the middle of something.

Screening by Age

The exam stays much the same every year. What changes is the list of screenings that come with it. Here is roughly what gets added as you go.

A well-child visit is the same idea on a smaller scale. Most of it is tracking growth and catching what is easier to fix early.

• GrowthHeight, weight and milestones plotted on the curve. A change in direction shows up before it becomes a worry.
• Vision and hearingChecked at intervals through childhood. Both affect school long before anyone links the two.
• ShotsKept on the standard childhood schedule, with catch-up doses if a child has fallen behind.
• School and sports formsSigned at the visit. Bring the form with you rather than coming back for it.
• Teen conversationsMood, sleep, screens and safety. Older teens often get part of the visit alone. That is standard practice, and it helps.

This decade is about setting a baseline. Your first readings become the line everything later is measured against, which is why a boring result still matters.

• Blood pressureEvery year from age 20. High blood pressure often starts this early and gives no warning.
• CholesterolA first lipid panel to set your baseline, then roughly every four to six years.
• Cervical screeningA Pap test from age 21, usually every three years, or with HPV testing every five from 30.
• VaccinesFlu each year, a Tdap booster every ten years, and hepatitis B if you were never vaccinated.

Numbers start to drift in this decade, and they drift quietly. Nothing hurts. The point of the visit is to see the drift on paper before it becomes a diagnosis.

• Blood sugarDiabetes screening from age 35, every three years, if your weight puts you in a higher risk band.
• CholesterolEvery four to six years, sooner if your first panel was borderline or heart disease runs in the family.
• SkinWorth being deliberate about in San Diego. Sun exposure here adds up faster than most places.

This is the decade where screening really expands, and where a yearly visit starts to pay for itself.

• Heart riskYour provider can work out your ten-year risk from blood pressure, cholesterol, age and history.
• MammogramBreast cancer screening from age 40 for women, with timing based on your own risk.
• Colon screeningStarts at 45 now, not 50. Colonoscopy, or a stool-based test done more often.
• Blood sugarCarries on every three years, or yearly if a result has already come back high.

Several screenings open up at 50, and two of them depend on things people forget to mention, like a smoking history from twenty years ago.

• Shingles vaccineTwo doses from age 50. Most people have no idea they are eligible this early.
• Lung screeningA yearly low-dose CT from 50 if you have a twenty pack-year history and smoke now or quit within fifteen years.
• ProstateA conversation rather than an automatic test. Men aged 55 to 69 decide with their provider.
• PneumococcalFrom age 50 for some adults, depending on health conditions.

The visit shifts toward function as well as numbers. How you move, how you think, and how steady you are on your feet become part of the exam.

• Bone densityA DEXA scan for women from 65, and earlier for anyone with added risk.
• Abdominal aortic ultrasoundA one-time scan for men aged 65 to 75 who have ever smoked.
• Falls and balanceChecked directly, because a fall is one of the clearest predictors of losing independence.
• Memory and moodA brief check, since both change slowly enough that families often miss it.

These follow current national screening guidance and are a general guide, not a personal plan. Your own schedule depends on your history, your family history and your risk, and your provider confirms it at your visit.

Your Lab Work

Most people get their results as a page of numbers with no explanation. Here is what the standard panels are looking at.

One number out of range is rarely the story. What your provider is reading is the direction of travel. A cholesterol result that has climbed steadily across three years says more than a single high reading ever could, and that is the real argument for going every year rather than every few.

Before You Come In

The difference between a useful physical and a forgettable one is usually ten minutes of preparation the night before.

What It Costs

Under the Affordable Care Act, most plans cover your annual physical in full. That covers the screenings and shots too. No copay, no deductible, so long as the provider is in network.

Lanoi takes a long list of plans. On the PPO side that covers Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and Health Net, plus many more. The office also takes Covered California plans and Medi-Cal, which needs a referral. Some workers comp plans are covered too, including the City and County of San Diego.

See the full list of accepted insurance plans, or call the office and the front desk will check your specific plan before you book.

Common Questions