In-home primary care in South St. Louis
In South St. Louis, plenty of older adults live upstairs in a two-family flat, with a flight of steps outside and another inside. Leaving for a doctor’s appointment is tiring and sometimes unsafe, so follow-up visits get postponed. In-home primary care follow-up changes that. A partner clinician climbs the stairs instead, reviews medications and checks on conditions such as diabetes, heart failure and high blood pressure. Gateway arranges the visits, requests records from hospitals and specialists, and shares the treating clinician’s orders with the family and others on the care team.
Brick defines the south side. There are bungalows and gingerbread-style houses in St. Louis Hills, narrow shotgun homes on The Hill, row houses in Soulard, and two-family and four-family flats nearly everywhere. Front steps are steep, gangways are narrow and parking is on the street. Senior apartment buildings, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities are spread through the neighborhoods as well. Gateway arranges partner clinician visits in each setting. Tell us if the patient lives in an upstairs flat or needs help getting to the door, so the visit is planned with that in mind.
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.
Who it helps
Not everyone who calls us has a doctor. Some adults in South St. Louis lost theirs when a practice closed or a physician retired. Others have been in and out of hospitals and rehab and have not had a regular visit in a long time, so nobody is watching the whole picture or renewing prescriptions on schedule. Gateway can help connect you with a partner practice that makes home visits. The page on finding a primary care clinician explains how.
Home visits are also arranged for people who have a doctor but cannot get to the office, including adults with limited mobility, people healing from a wound or an operation, and assisted living residents.
Primary care and wound healing
Two things on a primary care clinician’s list affect wounds more than people expect: medications and movement. Some medicines can slow healing, thin the skin or raise the chance of bleeding. That does not mean they should be stopped, only that the prescriber should know a wound is present and weigh the choices. Movement matters because pressure on one spot, an unsteady walk or a fall can set a wound back, and the clinician can order therapy or equipment.
Gateway shares the current medication list with both teams. When the wound care clinician asks you to keep weight off a foot, primary care hears about it and can think through fall risk.
Homes, assisted living and skilled nursing
Skilled nursing works differently from the other places where Gateway arranges primary care follow-up. Every resident already has an attending physician who is responsible for medical care, and facility nurses carry out the orders. We do not replace that team. In facilities in South St. Louis, we coordinate with the attending and the nursing staff, and we plan follow-up for the day a resident leaves. See primary care follow-up in skilled nursing.
After discharge, a partner clinician can visit at the next address, whether that is a private home, an apartment, assisted living or memory care.
Working with your existing doctors
Keeping your own physician and having visits at home can go together. If you have a doctor you trust, tell us, and with your permission the visiting clinician’s notes and questions go to that office. The two clinicians then settle the practical split: who renews prescriptions, who orders tests, who signs forms, who makes specialist referrals. Ask to hear that split in plain terms early on. If you have no physician, the treating practice that visits you takes on those jobs, and Gateway keeps the records and orders organized either way.
How to start
There are two ways to start in South St. Louis. 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: City of St. Louis, Missouri (an independent city)
- ZIP codes: 63104, 63109, 63111, 63116, 63118, 63139
- Nearby hospitals: SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital; Barnes-Jewish Hospital; SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond Heights; Mercy Hospital South (not affiliated with Gateway)
- Nearby communities: St. Louis City, Downtown St. Louis, Affton, Shrewsbury, Maplewood, Central West End
- Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation
Insurance and coverage
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
Is a video visit an option for primary care in South St. Louis?
It can be, for some needs. A video or phone visit may work for going over test results, checking on a medication change or talking through a plan. It cannot replace an exam when the clinician needs to listen to your heart and lungs or look at your legs. The treating practice decides when telehealth is suitable. See telehealth primary care visits.
How often will a primary care clinician visit me in South St. Louis?
The treating clinician sets the schedule after seeing you, and it changes with your health. Someone just out of the hospital, or with a condition that is not yet stable, is usually seen more often than someone who is steady. Gateway cannot promise a set number of visits or a set interval in advance. Ask at the first visit when the next one should be.
Can the visiting clinician in South St. Louis prescribe and refill my medications?
Prescribing is the treating clinician’s decision, not Gateway’s. A clinician who takes on your primary care can generally write and renew prescriptions and send them to your pharmacy. If you keep another physician too, the two offices should agree on who renews what, so nothing is doubled or missed. Certain medications carry extra rules, and the clinician will explain those.
Can blood pressure or blood sugar be tracked between home visits in South St. Louis?
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.
Can home visits continue if I move out of South St. Louis or into a care facility?
They may be able to, but it has to be checked. Availability is confirmed by location and care setting, and facilities have their own rules about outside clinicians. Tell us about a move as early as you can. We will find out whether the same practice can follow you. If it cannot, we help with the handoff of records to whoever takes over.
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.