Primary care at home in Chesterfield and West County.

House call primary care in Chesterfield and West County

Distance is the quiet obstacle in Chesterfield and West County. A doctor’s office might be ten or fifteen minutes away by car, which is simple until someone can no longer drive, a spouse becomes the patient, or the adult children live out of town. In-home primary care follow-up keeps regular medical attention going through those changes. A partner clinician visits the house or senior living apartment, reviews medications and chronic conditions, and watches for problems such as falls, weight change or new confusion. Gateway coordinates the visits and the communication with other doctors.

Chesterfield and West County have a wide range of places to live as people age. Many residents stay in the two-story houses where they raised families. Others move to ranch villas, condominiums, independent living apartments or senior communities with assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing on one campus. Gateway arranges visits from partner clinicians across this range. When a resident moves from one level of care to another, we update the address, the facility contacts and the records so the treating clinician’s plan follows the person.

This page is part of Gateway's guide to primary care in St. Louis, which covers house calls, wellness visits and chronic care across the region.

What the clinician can look at

A good share of primary care happens after the clinician leaves. A blood test has to be drawn, an imaging appointment booked, a specialist’s report sent back and read. When the treating clinician writes an order, Gateway follows it through and keeps the results moving to the people who need them. Depending on where you live, some tests can be arranged at home. Others mean a trip, and we can help with lab and imaging coordination and transportation arrangements.

The visits themselves cover what you would expect from a primary care office: long-term conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, a full medication review, follow-up after a hospital stay and a yearly wellness visit.

People who benefit most

Recovering from surgery or living with a wound changes what a trip to the doctor involves. A leg that needs to stay elevated, a dressing that should stay dry, pain with sitting, or instructions to keep weight off a foot all make travel harder. For people in Chesterfield and West County in that situation, Gateway can arrange primary care follow-up where they live, so the conditions that affect recovery are not put off until the wound has closed.

The same service helps adults who rarely leave home for other reasons, people in assisted living communities, and people who have no primary care clinician right now.

Why wound care and primary care go together

Healing takes building material. A body that is short on protein, calories or fluids has less to work with, and appetite often drops during illness and recovery. In primary care follow-up, the treating clinician can ask about eating and weight change, look for causes such as dental pain, trouble swallowing, low mood or medication side effects, and order lab tests or a dietitian referral if needed. See nutrition and healing.

What the wound care clinician sees helps here. A wound that stops improving, or weight loss noticed at a wound visit, is shared with the primary care clinician so the question is asked early.

Wound care in Chesterfield and West County →

Care settings in Chesterfield and West County

For someone living with dementia, a trip to a clinic can mean a strange room, a long wait and a hard day afterward. Seeing the clinician in a familiar place is usually calmer. In memory care communities in Chesterfield and West County, the visiting clinician can talk with the staff who know the resident’s normal routine, and a family member or legal decision-maker can join in person or by phone.

Gateway also arranges primary care follow-up in houses, apartments, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Availability depends on the location and the type of setting, and we confirm it before a visit is booked.

One care team, shared information

It helps to know who is responsible for what:

• The treating clinician examines you, makes the diagnosis, writes orders and prescriptions, and decides on treatment
• Your existing physician and specialists keep the parts of your care that they and the treating clinician agree on
• Home health nurses and therapists carry out the orders they are given and report changes
• Gateway schedules visits, gathers records, follows through on orders and keeps everyone informed
• You and your family decide who is included and tell the team what has changed

If you are ever unsure whom to ask, call Gateway and we will point you to the right person.

How to start

To ask about primary care at home in Chesterfield and West County, call Gateway at 314-325-0126. The first conversation is practical. We ask for the address, whether it is a house, an apartment or a facility, what kind of help is needed, and whether a physician is already involved. Then we check whether a partner clinician is available for that location and setting. If one is, we gather records with your permission, set a visit date with you and tell you which practice will be coming.

• County: St. Louis County, Missouri
• ZIP codes: 63017, 63005
• Nearby hospitals: St. Luke's Hospital in Chesterfield; Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur; Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country; Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital in Creve Coeur (not affiliated with Gateway)
• Nearby communities: Chesterfield, Ballwin, Wildwood, Ellisville, Des Peres, Creve Coeur
• Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Insurance and coverage

You can ask Gateway about Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial insurance when you call. We cannot tell you over the phone that a visit is a covered benefit, because that depends on three things: the treating practice that would see you, the details of your plan and the care the clinician finds you need. What we can do is tell you which practice would be involved, so you can confirm with your plan before the first visit. The insurance page lists questions worth asking.

Common questions

Related pages

• Chesterfield and West County
• Primary care
• In-home primary care
• Primary care and wound care together
• Primary care at home
• Primary care at home
• Primary care at home