Well-Woman Visit in California

California

Well-woman visits are annual health exams that provide an opportunity for women to access preventive services such as vaccines and screening tests, which can help identify cancers and other conditions earlier on when they are easier to treat. Well-woman visits are also a good place to discuss strategies with their health care providers to minimize health risks and achieve a healthy lifestyle. Based on age and risk, annual assessments should include:

• Screenings for disease.
• Health and family history review.
• Discussion of reproductive health.
• Shared decision making to support long-term health.
• Preventive care such as immunizations, counseling and health education.

Screening for health risks such as smoking and alcohol abuse through preventive services like patient counseling and education has proven to be a cost-effective way of improving health. Primary HPV screening has also been shown to be a cost-effective strategy, offering reductions in cervical cancer incidence and mortality. Annual well-woman visits are recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, although not all components may be performed each year.

According to America’s Health Rankings analysis, the prevalence of a preventive medical visit in the past year was higher among: 

• Women ages 35-44 than those ages 18-24 and 25-34.
• Black women compared with all other racial and ethnic groups.
• Women who are college graduates compared with women who have less education.

Additional research shows that well-woman visits are more common among insured women than uninsured women. 

With its passage in 2010, the Affordable Care Act made it mandatory for insurance policies to cover certain preventive health care services at no cost, including at least one well-woman visit per year.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offers specific recommendations for screening, evaluating, counseling and immunizations for women of different age groups.

The Women’s Preventive Services Initiative provides guidelines on evidence-based services and recommendations for women’s preventive visits.

Maciosek, Michael V., Ashley B. Coffield, Thomas J. Flottemesch, Nichol M. Edwards, and Leif I. Solberg. “Greater Use Of Preventive Services In U.S. Health Care Could Save Lives At Little Or No Cost.” Health Affairs 29, no. 9 (September 2010): 1656–60. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2008.0701.

Simms, Kate T., Adam Keane, Diep Thi Ngoc Nguyen, Michael Caruana, Michaela T. Hall, Gigi Lui, Cindy Gauvreau, et al. “Benefits, Harms and Cost-Effectiveness of Cervical Screening, Triage and Treatment Strategies for Women in the General Population.” Nature Medicine 29, no. 12 (December 2023): 3050–58. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02600-4.

Witkop, Catherine, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Committee on Gynecologic Practice. “ACOG Committee Opinion No. 755: Well-Woman Visit.” Obstetrics & Gynecology 132, no. 4 (October 2018): e181–86. https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000002897.