Usually, yes. A standard adult physical in the United States is now expected to include a brief written questionnaire about mood, sleep, worry, and interest in everyday activities. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening every adult for depression and screening adults 64 and younger for anxiety disorders. At Rock Medical PC in Jamaica, Queens, age-appropriate screenings are part of your annual physical exam, so it is worth asking our front desk what your visit will include. The questionnaire takes a few minutes, it is not a diagnosis, and for most patients it adds nothing to the bill.
Which Screenings the Task Force Recommends, and for Whom
In June 2023, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force published its guidance on screening adults for depression and suicide risk and, separately, on screening adults for anxiety disorders. The two statements do not read the same way, and the differences are worth knowing before you sit down with a clipboard.
- Depression. The Task Force recommends screening for depression in the adult population, including pregnant and postpartum persons and adults 65 and older. This is a B recommendation, which means the Task Force found a moderate net benefit with moderate certainty.
- Anxiety disorders. The Task Force recommends screening for anxiety disorders in adults 64 and younger, including pregnant and postpartum persons. This is also a B recommendation, and it was new in 2023.
- Anxiety in adults 65 and older. Here, the Task Force issued an I statement. The evidence on how accurately the available tools work in older adults was not adequate, so the balance of benefits and harms could not be determined.
- Suicide risk. The Task Force also issued an I statement on screening for suicide risk in adults. The evidence was insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms.
An I statement is not a recommendation against screening. It means the research has not yet answered the question, and clinicians are asked to use judgment based on individual circumstances. Screening rates in the United States are not well documented, and the Task Force notes that underdetection remains common. That gap is a large part of why these recommendations exist.
What the Questionnaire Asks and How Long It Takes
The forms are short. For depression, primary care practices commonly use the Patient Health Questionnaire, either the two-item PHQ-2 or the nine-item PHQ-9. For anxiety, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale is standard, either the two-item GAD-2 or the seven-item GAD-7. Other validated tools exist for specific populations, including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale for pregnant and postpartum patients and the Geriatric Depression Scale for older adults.
The questions ask how often you have recently felt down, hopeless, restless, or unable to stop worrying, and how your sleep, energy, appetite, and concentration have been. Nothing on the form is a trick, and answering honestly is what makes it work.
One finding from the Task Force review is worth repeating to anyone who feels the questions do not apply to them. In one study of primary care patients with generalized anxiety disorder, only 13.3 percent came in naming anxiety as their main concern. More often, their stated concerns were somatic issues, pain, or sleep disturbance. The questionnaire exists precisely because the condition often shows up wearing a different coat.
Why a Positive Score Is Not a Diagnosis
A screening tool sorts people into groups that deserve a closer look. It does not tell your physician what you have. The Task Force is explicit that anxiety screening tools alone are insufficient to diagnose an anxiety disorder, and that a positive result requires a confirmatory diagnostic assessment. The same principle applies to depression, where all positive results should lead to further assessment to confirm the diagnosis, gauge severity, and identify anything occurring alongside it.
The numbers behind the tools show why. At the standard PHQ-9 cutoff of 10 or greater, the questionnaire correctly identified about 85 percent of people who had major depression and about 85 percent of those who did not. That is strong performance for a nine-question form, and it is nowhere near strong enough to stand in for a clinical evaluation.
If your score comes back elevated, the next step is a conversation, not a prescription pad. Treatment for depression generally involves psychotherapy, medication, or both, and treatment for anxiety disorders follows a similar range. We talk through what fits your situation, and we make a referral when specialist care is the better path.
Why the Screening Is Usually Free, and When a Bill Can Still Arrive
This is the part almost no one explains, and it is why some patients are surprised by a statement weeks later. Under the federal preventive services coverage rule, a group health plan or insurer must cover items and services carrying an A or B rating from the Task Force and must not impose a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible for them. The rating has to apply to the individual involved, which is where the age boundaries start to matter.
Depression screening carries a B rating for every adult, so it is covered without cost sharing. Anxiety screening carries a B rating for adults 64 and younger, so for those patients it is covered the same way. Because the Task Force reached an I statement on anxiety screening in adults 65 and older, that screening does not carry the same guarantee.
The rule has other edges worth knowing before your visit.
- If the screening is billed separately from the office visit, the plan cannot charge you for the screening, but it may still apply cost sharing to the office visit itself.
- If the screening is not billed separately and the main purpose of the visit was to deliver that preventive service, the plan may not charge you for the visit either.
- If the screening is not billed separately and the main purpose of the visit was something else, the plan may apply cost sharing to the visit even though the screening rides along for free.
- Unless a treatment itself carries an A or B rating, a plan may impose cost sharing on that treatment even when the screening that found the problem was free.
- A plan with a provider network is generally not required to waive cost sharing when you go out of network, and grandfathered health plans sit outside this rule entirely.
None of that is a reason to skip the questionnaire. It is a reason to ask our front desk how your specific plan handles a preventive visit before you are seen. You can review the full range of services we offer on our patient services page.
Help That Is Available Before Your Next Appointment
The Task Force found the evidence insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of routine suicide risk screening, so a dedicated suicide screening is not a guaranteed part of every physical. Some depression questionnaires do ask about thoughts of self-harm, including the PHQ-9. You can raise these concerns with us at any visit. Each September, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration marks Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a good reminder that this is worth bringing up.
If you are in crisis, do not wait for an appointment. The 988 crisis line offers free, confidential crisis counseling, mental health and substance use support, and referrals. You can call or text 988 or chat online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Counselors provide support in more than 200 languages by phone, and text and chat support is available in English and Spanish. Health insurance is not required, though depending on your phone or text service you may be charged a fee.
For everything short of a crisis, a scheduled visit is the right door. Depression and anxiety are common, treatable, and frequently missed, and a few minutes with a questionnaire is a small price for catching either one early.
Schedule Your Annual Physical in Jamaica, Queens
Rock Medical PC provides annual wellness physicals, diagnostics, and walk-in urgent care to the Jamaica community, with multilingual staff and a broad range of accepted insurance plans. Dr. Farid Shahkoohi is a board-certified internist with over 30 years of experience. If it has been a while since your last physical, we would like to see you. Contact our office to book your appointment.
