In-home primary care in the City of St. Louis
City living can make primary care harder to reach than it looks on a map. An office may be two miles away, yet for an older adult in a third-floor apartment without a car, those two miles involve stairs, a bus transfer and a long wait. In-home primary care follow-up closes that gap in the City of St. Louis. A partner clinician visits the apartment, house or facility to review medications and check on chronic conditions. Gateway arranges the visits, requests records from hospitals and health centers, and shares the treating clinician’s plan with the family.
Almost every kind of housing is found in the City of St. Louis: single-family brick homes, two-family and four-family flats, downtown lofts, high-rise apartments, senior housing towers and large older homes divided into units. It also has many skilled nursing facilities, assisted living residences and rehabilitation centers. Gateway arranges partner clinician visits in all of these. For a high-rise, we ask about the front desk and where to park. For a flat, we ask which bell to ring. We collect those details so the treating clinician can focus on the patient.
For the full range of services, see primary care in St. Louis, including house calls, annual wellness visits and follow-up after a hospital stay.
What in-home primary care includes
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 the City of 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.
Why wound care and primary care go together
Dressings are only part of what heals a wound. Primary care follow-up looks after the conditions that shape healing:
- Blood sugar, when diabetes is involved
- Circulation and swelling in the legs
- Nutrition and hydration
- Medications that affect skin, bleeding or healing
- Mobility, pressure and fall risk
When Gateway coordinates both kinds of care, information moves in both directions. Wound measurements, new symptoms, lab results and medication changes are shared between the wound care and primary care clinicians, with your permission. See primary care and wound care together.
Care settings in the City of St. Louis
Home visits in the City of St. Louis happen wherever you are most comfortable in the house, often at the kitchen table or beside a living room chair. Family can be in the room if you want them there. Being in the home shows things an exam room cannot: how the stairs are managed, where medications are kept, how meals are handled.
Partner clinicians also visit apartments and senior buildings, assisted living and memory care communities, and skilled nursing facilities. We confirm availability for your address and setting before scheduling.
Working with your existing doctors
People who need home visits often have several specialists: a cardiologist, a kidney doctor, an endocrinologist, a vascular surgeon. Each one manages a piece. Primary care is where the pieces are put side by side, so that a new heart medicine is checked against the kidney plan and no test is ordered twice. The treating clinician decides when a referral is needed. Gateway handles the logistics of specialist referrals: sending records ahead, arranging the appointment and transportation, and getting the specialist’s note back to the primary care clinician.
How to start
Some people in the City of St. Louis come to primary care through another door. If Gateway already coordinates wound care for you, tell your coordinator that you would like primary care follow-up too. We already have your address and contact details. If you are in a hospital or rehab center, the discharge planner can make a referral before you leave. Facility nurses and physician offices can do the same by phone at 314-325-0126 or by fax at 314-786-7966. Whoever starts the request, we confirm availability before anything is scheduled.
- County: City of St. Louis, Missouri (an independent city)
- ZIP codes: 63101, 63103, 63104, 63106, 63108, 63109, 63110, 63111, 63112, 63113, 63115, 63116, 63118, 63139, 63147
- Nearby hospitals: Barnes-Jewish Hospital; SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital (not affiliated with Gateway)
- Nearby communities: Downtown St. Louis, Central West End, North St. Louis, South St. Louis, Clayton and Central County
- Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation
Coverage questions
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
What if my parent in the City of St. Louis 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.
How is in-home primary care in the City of St. Louis different from home health?
Home health is a service from an agency that sends nurses and therapists, usually for a limited period after an illness, injury or hospital stay, and it runs on a clinician’s orders. Primary care is the clinician who manages your overall health, prescribes medications and writes those orders. Many people have both at once, and the two work better when they share information.
Does someone have to be homebound to get a house call in the City of St. Louis?
You do not have to meet a formal definition to ask. Homebound is a word that certain programs, such as home health under Medicare, use with specific rules. Just describe what makes leaving home difficult. The treating practice and your plan decide what applies to you. Our guide to what homebound means explains the term.
Can home visits continue if I move out of the City of 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.
How should I get ready for a first primary care visit at home in the City of St. Louis?
Put your medication bottles, insurance cards and any discharge papers in one spot. Write down your top two or three concerns, since first visits cover a lot of history. Choose a place to sit with good light, and decide whether you want a family member present. Our guide to what to expect from a house call goes through the visit.
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.