Wound care questions in St. Louis, answered.

Gateway connects patients, families, facilities and practices with wound care and primary care delivered by partner clinicians across Greater St. Louis and the Metro East. We handle the work around the visit: the request, scheduling, records, orders, supplies, transportation arrangements and follow-up. The treating clinician makes every clinical decision. Our model page explains how Gateway works with clinical partners. If you have wound care questions in St. Louis that this page does not answer, call 314-325-0126.

No. Patients, family members and caregivers can call Gateway directly at 314-325-0126, with or without a referral. Hospitals, facilities and practices can refer too. After the first conversation, the treating practice may need clinician orders or records before a visit, and some insurance plans have referral rules of their own. Our guide on whether you need a referral for wound care explains what to ask.

The request care form asks only for a name and phone number, so please leave medical details out of it. Someone from Gateway calls you back and asks about the wound, where the person lives, the care setting and insurance. From there we explain which records or orders are needed and work with the treating practice on the next step.

Gateway is not an emergency service. Call 911 for bleeding that will not stop, trouble breathing, sudden confusion, or a person who looks very ill. For changes that are not an emergency, such as new redness, swelling, odor, drainage or pain, contact the clinician who is already treating the wound and say what changed and when. Our guide to the signs of wound infection lists what to report.

Visits can be arranged in private homes, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, memory care, rehabilitation centers, and outpatient or office settings with clinical partners. For people who have trouble leaving the house, mobile wound care at home is often the starting point. The treating practice confirms the setting that fits the person and the wound.

Gateway arranges care across Greater St. Louis, including St. Louis City and St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties in Missouri. Across the river, we arrange care in the Metro East communities of St. Clair, Madison, Monroe and Clinton counties in Illinois. The service area directory lists individual towns and neighborhoods. If yours is missing, call and ask about your address.

It depends on where the person lives, the care setting, and which records or orders the treating practice needs first. We do not promise a timeframe, because availability is confirmed by location and setting. On the first call we tell you what is needed and what happens next. If a wound cannot safely wait, contact the person’s current clinician, or call 911 in an emergency.

Yes. Your primary care clinician, surgeon and specialists stay part of your care. Gateway helps move visit notes, orders and updates among the care team so that everyone is working from the same information. If a home health nurse or facility nurse is changing the dressings, the treating clinician’s orders are sent to them too. Tell us who is involved so the right people are kept informed.

You can ask us about Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial plans. Whether a plan can be used depends on the treating provider, the plan itself and the care that is needed, so a web page cannot give you a yes or no. Have the insurance card nearby when we call. The insurance page explains what gets checked and who checks it.

That depends on your plan’s rules for deductibles, copays and coinsurance, and on the service provided. Gateway does not publish prices and cannot tell you what a plan will pay. Before the visit, ask your plan and the treating practice what you may owe. Our list of insurance and cost questions for wound care gives you wording to use on those calls.

Sometimes. Some plans require approval before certain visits, products or equipment, and the rules differ from plan to plan. The ordering practice or the supplier usually sends the request, and the plan makes the decision. You can ask whether anything ordered for you needs approval and who is tracking it. Our guide to prior authorization for wound care explains the steps in plain terms.

It varies with the plan, the care setting and the clinician’s order. At home, supplies are often ordered through a medical supply company and billed under the plan’s rules. In a skilled nursing facility, the facility usually provides them. Gateway helps with wound supply and equipment coordination, which includes finding out who is placing the order and where the delivery is going.

Call 314-325-0126, fax a referral to 314-786-7966, or use the referral form. The form collects your contact details only, so do not enter patient information there. We call back, talk through the patient’s needs, location, care setting and coverage, and agree on how records will be sent to the treating practice.

Useful items include demographics and coverage information, the wound location and history, recent clinical notes, current wound orders, the medication list, and contacts for the attending physician and family. Send these by fax or another route we agree on, never through the web form. The discharge planner wound referral checklist shows what to gather before a handoff.

Yes, we can discuss it. Facility wound rounds bring a partner clinician to your building on a recurring schedule to assess residents alongside your nursing staff. Gateway coordinates the rounding list, records and follow-up communication. The schedule is confirmed for your location, and your team’s own assessments, care plans and physician relationships stay in place.

Home health nurses and a wound clinician do different jobs for the same patient. The agency’s nurses make skilled visits under a plan of care. The treating wound clinician assesses the wound, writes or updates wound orders and reviews progress. Gateway keeps orders and updates moving between them. See wound care alongside home health for how the roles are divided.

Yes. Gateway also connects people with primary care from partner clinicians, including in-home primary care for adults who have a hard time getting to an office. Visits can address ongoing conditions, medication review and follow-up after a hospital stay. As with wound care, the treating clinician makes the medical decisions, and availability is confirmed by location and care setting.

Not necessarily. Some people want a new primary care clinician because they can no longer get to the office. Others keep their doctor and only need wound care. Tell us which describes you. When one person needs both, primary care and wound care can be arranged together, so the plan for the wound and the plan for overall health line up.

Practice support is for independent physician practices in the St. Louis region. It gives a practice access to clinical supplies, wound care products and equipment, along with help on billing, claims follow-up, prior-authorization tracking, credentialing, scheduling, records, care-program administration, AI-assisted workflows, marketing and referral relationships. Clinical decisions, medical necessity, final coding decisions and responsibility for claims stay with the practice.

Send a note through the practice support inquiry form, or call 314-325-0126 and say you are calling about practice support. It helps to mention what kind of practice you run and where staff time is going, such as supply ordering, denials or a care program you want to start. Pricing is discussed directly and is not posted on the website.