Submitted Photo Dr. John Folland cares for patients at the UND Center for Family Medicine in Minot.

mily Medicine in Minot want to make sure that all its patients are cared for.

That is why the clinic is promoting annual wellness visits for patients who receive Medicare payments, said Becky Bina, business manager.

“This is standard health care across the base,” said Bina.

At the annual wellness visits, doctors can ensure that patients have received recommended preventative health care, including medical tests that can catch problems early, such as a colonoscopy, a PAP smear or a mammogram.

At the exam, doctors will also review prescribed medications to ensure that patients are not taking two medications that should not be taken together.

“We are trying to standardize our care for our patients and make sure that all their (health care needs) are met,” said Bina.

The wellness exams are covered by Medicare.

UND Family Medicine is staffed by three resident physicians and three faculty physicians.

Doctors at the clinic, which is located across from Minot High School-Magic City Campus, see patients of all ages at roughly 16,000 visits each year.

During their three years of residency, the doctors get experience in all areas of medicine, which will serve them whether or not they decide to set up a practice in rural North Dakota.

Doctors see patients at clinic visits or at nursing homes, follow them to the hospital and occasionally do home visits. They deliver babies, tend to adolescents and handle sports medicine, said Bina.

The new policy on preventative medicine is another way for them to provide the best care possible.