Kinwell clinicians know the best healthcare is based on thoughtful communication between patient and clinician. It’s how clinicians better understand their patients’ concerns—and why Kinwell offers longer appointment times and designs their clinics with conversations in mind. Clear, open communication helps ensure that your most important health concerns are heard, understood, and addressed effectively.

Many patients arrive with more than one concern—and that’s completely normal. A conversation about fatigue might lead to questions about sleep, nutrition, or mental health. Sometimes concerns are connected, and by understanding the range of issues you’re experiencing, your clinician can identify possible underlying causes and make better-informed decisions.

However, trying to cover too many topics in a single appointment can lead to feeling rushed or overwhelmed. That’s why Kinwell clinicians use a structured approach to set a shared agenda—prioritizing concerns together at the start of the visit to make the best use of your time. Research shows that collaborative agenda-setting leads to higher patient satisfaction, better outcomes, and fewer misunderstandings.

Your list of priorities

When you schedule your appointment, you’ll be asked to share your primary concern. At your visit, a medical assistant will greet you, take your vital signs, and ask if you have additional concerns. This helps prepare the clinician and set a realistic agenda before the visit begins.

Even appointments for a specific ailment, like a cold, can lead to a discussion about additional health issues. Your clinician will then check in with you at the start of the appointment to clarify what matters most to you and what can be addressed today. This conversation ensures that urgent issues aren’t missed and that there’s time for quality care—not just quantity.

Prevention vs. treatment appointments

Many patients want to discuss a list of concerns during their annual wellness exam, often assuming all of them are covered by their health plan under preventive care. But it’s important to understand the difference:

  • Preventive care visits (like annual exams or screenings) are generally covered in full by a health plan.
  • Diagnostic or treatment services (such as evaluating a rash, joint pain, or fatigue) may fall outside the preventive category and lead to out-of-pocket costs—even if they happen during a wellness visit.

To reduce billing surprises, Kinwell provides a Preventive vs. Treatment form that explains these differences. If you have several concerns that require diagnosis or treatment, your clinician may recommend converting the visit to a treatment appointment or scheduling a follow-up to ensure everything is addressed thoroughly.

“If the issue is minor and doesn’t take much time, most clinicians will address it in a wellness exam,” said Dr. Kathleen Tonti-Horne, head of Kinwell’s Lifestyle Medicine program, “but if they have three or more concerns, each of which requires diagnoses and treatment, then we have to change the appointment from a wellness visit to a treatment visit and they can come back some other time for the wellness exam.”

Prioritizing concerns

Understanding a patient’s top concerns helps a clinician to estimate the time required for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. The clinician can also estimate the type and duration of an appointment and how it will be coded, determining what’s covered by a health plan as preventive and what costs are the patient’s responsibility. Open communication ensures you are aware of your appointment’s financial implications.

“This discussion is a bit of a dance between what is top of mind for the patient and what the clinician observes as part of their assessment,” said Dr. Mia Wise, chief medical officer for Kinwell. “The patient may be concerned about an rash on their back, while the clinician could determine that their blood pressure is too high and prioritize that treatment. Patients should expect a conversation with the clinic team who can help them identify the most important items on their list of concerns.”

To better understand what your plan covers as preventive care, call your health plan’s customer service team or view your plan online. To schedule an appointment at Kinwell, either preventive or for more immediate concerns, call 833-411-5469.  Established Kinwell patients can schedule appointments through their MyChart account.