In-home primary care in Ladue
Aging in place is the plan for many households in Ladue. The house is familiar, help can be brought in and no one wants to move. What gets harder is routine medical follow-up, because blood pressure checks, medication questions and the visit after a hospital stay all require a car ride and a wait. In-home primary care follow-up moves those visits to the living room. Gateway arranges a partner clinician’s visit, requests records from the specialists involved and shares the treating clinician’s plan with the family and any caregivers in the home.
Most of Ladue is single-family homes, many of them large, on private lanes or at the end of long driveways. Some families have hired caregivers in the home. Apartments and senior living are less common in Ladue itself than in the cities around it, where many longtime residents move for assisted living, memory care or skilled nursing. Gateway arranges partner clinician visits in both places. For a home, we ask about gate codes, the easiest entrance and who will meet the clinician. For a facility, we work with the nursing staff on timing and orders.
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 a visit can cover
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
Families are often the first to see that office visits have stopped working. A parent in Ladue cancels appointments because the trip is too much. Refills are handled by phone for a year without an exam. A hospital stay ends and no one follows up. These are common reasons people call Gateway about primary care at home.
The person may be mostly housebound, may be recovering from surgery or a wound, may live in assisted living, or may have no regular clinician at all. A son, daughter, spouse or neighbor can make the call. Our caregiver support page covers what families can ask for.
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.
Where visits take place
Where you live can change during an illness: home, then a hospital, then rehab, then perhaps assisted living. Gateway arranges primary care follow-up in the following settings across Ladue:
- Private houses, condos and apartments
- Assisted living communities
- Memory care communities
- Skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities
If you move, tell us the new address and who is in charge of care there. We confirm whether a partner clinician is available for that location and setting, and we help get your records to the new care team so the next visit does not start from zero.
Working with your existing doctors
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.
Getting started in Ladue
There are two ways to start in Ladue. The direct one is to call 314-325-0126 and talk with a coordinator. If you would like us to call you instead, send a request for care through the website. The form asks only for a name and phone number, so please leave health details out of it. When we call back, we go over where you live, what you need and who is already part of your care, then confirm whether a partner clinician can see you there.
- County: St. Louis County, Missouri
- ZIP codes: 63124
- Nearby hospitals: Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country; SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond Heights; Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur (not affiliated with Gateway)
- Nearby communities: Clayton and Central County, Creve Coeur, Richmond Heights, Brentwood, University City
- Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation
What to ask about your plan
Before a first home visit, a call to the member number on your insurance card can answer most cost questions. Useful things to ask:
- Does this practice participate in my plan?
- Do I need a referral or prior authorization for visits at home?
- What would I owe for a visit?
- Are lab work, imaging and medical equipment handled differently?
Write down the date, the name of the person you spoke with and what they said. Gateway can give you the name of the treating practice to use for that call.
Common questions
Can blood pressure or blood sugar be tracked between home visits in Ladue?
Sometimes. If the treating clinician decides it would help, a program called remote patient monitoring uses devices such as a blood pressure cuff or a scale that send readings from your home to the practice. Whether it is offered depends on the practice, your plan and your condition. A written log you keep yourself is also worth showing at each visit. See remote patient monitoring.
Will Medicare or my insurance pay for primary care at home in Ladue?
We cannot answer that in general, because it depends on the treating practice, your specific plan and the care you need. When you call, ask which practice would see you. Then call the number on your Medicare or insurance card and ask whether that practice participates in your plan and what you would owe for a visit at home.
Can my spouse and I both be seen during one home visit in Ladue?
You can ask for that. Each of you is a separate patient, with your own records, your own coverage questions and your own visit. When one partner practice can see both people, we try to line the visits up back to back so the household has one appointment time. Whether that works depends on clinician availability, so we confirm it when scheduling.
What if my parent in Ladue has dementia and cannot answer the clinician’s questions?
That is common, and the visit can still be useful. A family member, caregiver or facility staff member who knows the person can give the history and describe recent changes. If someone holds legal authority for health decisions, tell us when you call so the right person is included. Read more about memory concerns and primary care.
Can in-home primary care in Ladue help me get a walker, hospital bed or other equipment?
The treating clinician decides whether equipment is medically needed and writes the order. Gateway then works with the equipment supplier on the paperwork and delivery details. Health plans have their own rules about which items they pay for and what documentation they want, so having an order is not the same as having approval. Ask what you might owe before delivery.
Related pages
General information to help you talk with your own clinician. It is not medical advice, and the treating clinician makes every clinical decision. For a medical emergency, call 911.