Membership Primary Care · Families & Caregivers
Helping an aging parent get primary care that actually includes you
If you are the one who keeps the medication list, drives to appointments and repeats what the last clinician said, you already know the hardest part is not medicine — it is coordination. This page explains how caregiver-supported primary care works at Presence, what your parent has to agree to, and how to make one appointment do the work of three.
Caregiver participation with the patient's permission · Longer visits · Ages 13 and up for local care
The short answer
If you are arranging care for a parent, membership gives you one provider who knows their history, medication review at every change, and virtual access at any hour so a bad night does not default to the emergency department. Household virtual membership starts at $19.99 a month; scheduled local care follows the selected plan's terms.
- Who it is for
- Adult children and caregivers arranging primary care for a parent, often from another city.
- When it may not fit
- Anyone needing home health, in-home nursing, hospital care or a specialist. Membership dues are never billed to Medicare.
- What it costs
- From $19.99 a month; local visits are $129 each on the $19.99 plan, two included annually then $99 each on the $29.99 plan, and included without a per-visit charge on Unlimited plans; one-time $49 onboarding before a first in-office visit.
- What to do next
- Call and describe the situation — we will tell you honestly whether this fits.
In an emergency call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department.
Prices and material terms
- Member in-person visit$99In the Dallas–Fort Worth area, on Virtual plans.
- One-time clinical onboarding$49Medical history review before a first in-person visit.
- Without a membership$149A single in-person visit, no commitment.
Local in-person care is for ages 13 and older. Unlimited plans include medically appropriate local visits with no per-visit charge. Membership is not insurance and does not cover hospital, surgical, specialist or emergency care.
The short answer
- Where you fit in
- Your parent remains the patient and the decision-maker. With their permission, you can take part in visits, help give history and hear the plan first-hand instead of receiving it second-hand.
- What permission is needed
- Your parent's own consent for you to participate and to receive information. Legal authority such as a medical power of attorney is a separate matter and is handled according to the documents you provide.
- What longer visits solve
- Several conditions, a long medication list and questions from two people rarely fit a ten-minute appointment. Membership visits are scheduled for that reality.
- If you live far away
- Virtual visits let you join from another city while your parent is at home, which is often the difference between attending and being told about it later.
- Next step
- Join, or call and describe the situation before committing.
This page sits under direct primary care — start there if you want the full picture first.
What does your parent need first?
- Get care now
Something acute this week
A virtual visit from $19.99 can start it, with an honest answer about whether they need examining.
- Older-adult primary care
Nobody has reviewed all their medications
A full medication review is part of ongoing membership care.
- See Whole Family Virtual Care
You live in another state from them
Care is provided where the patient is located. Household coverage nationwide is the practical route if they are outside Texas or Illinois.
- Medicare and telehealth
Medicare questions are holding you up
Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage work differently; plan details must be verified.
If you live in another state from your parent
Long-distance caregiving fails on logistics, not on love. Two things decide what is possible: where your parent is physically located during a visit, and what they have consented to you being told.
Where your parent is decides the clinician
Care is provided by a clinician licensed for the state your parent is in at visit time. Your own location is irrelevant.
Consent decides what you may hear
An adult patient has to authorise us to speak with you. That authorisation is recorded, and it can be limited to particular topics.
You can join the visit
With consent, you can be on the call. It is frequently the most useful thing an adult child can do — you hear the plan first-hand instead of second-hand.
Where a household membership helps
If your parent lives outside the states where our provider is licensed, Whole Family Virtual Care covers households in all 50 states at $19.99/month, 24/7/365, so there is still a route to care at 2am.
Where a parent cannot make their own decisions, we will need documentation of legal authority before discussing their care.
What usually goes wrong, and why it is not your fault
Care for an older adult is spread across a primary care practice, two or three specialists, a pharmacy and sometimes a hospital discharge that nobody followed up. Each one holds part of the picture. The family ends up as the integration layer — carrying information between clinicians who never speak to each other, using a photograph of a pill bottle as a medical record.
This is a structural problem, and it responds to structure: one provider who knows the whole history, appointments long enough to review the whole medication list, and a caregiver who is present when the plan is made rather than reconstructing it afterwards.
The medication list
Reviewed as a whole, including over-the-counter medicines and supplements, rather than one prescription at a time.
The plan, first-hand
You hear the reasoning yourself, so instructions do not degrade in the retelling.
The follow-up
Scheduled during the visit, so nothing depends on someone remembering to call.
How to prepare for the first appointment
Bring every container
All prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and supplements — the actual bottles are more reliable than a list written from memory.
Write down the three questions that matter most
A longer visit still benefits from priorities, especially when two people have questions.
Note what has changed recently
Sleep, appetite, balance, memory, mood, energy and continence. Change matters more than any single reading.
Sort out permission in advance
Confirm with your parent that you may take part and receive information, and bring any medical power of attorney documentation you hold.
Local in-person primary care is for ages 13 and up in the Fort Worth area. Virtual care is for eligible patients located in Texas.
What we can and cannot do
What membership care supports
- Caregiver participation in visits with the patient's permission
- Whole-list medication review and coordination between clinicians
- Longer appointments for people managing several conditions
- Virtual visits so a distant family member can join
What it does not do
- Provide home health aides, personal care or nursing home services
- Override a patient's own decisions, or act on authority we have not been given
- Replace hospital, emergency or specialty care
- Guarantee that records from other practices arrive quickly
Membership is not health insurance and does not pay hospital, emergency or specialty bills.
Questions people ask
Can I attend my parent's appointment?
Yes, with your parent's permission. For virtual visits you can join from wherever you are.
Can I speak to the provider without my parent present?
Only within what your parent has consented to, or what your legal authority permits. We follow privacy law rather than convenience.
My parent has Medicare. Can they still be a member?
People with Medicare can join a membership practice, but membership is not insurance and we make no claim that Medicare covers it. See our educational page on membership care and Medicare.
Can you manage my parent's medications with their specialists?
Your provider reviews the full list, flags interactions and duplications, and coordinates with the specialists prescribing them. Changes to a specialist's prescription are made in consultation, not around them.
What if my parent is resistant to changing practices?
That is common and reasonable. Many families start with a virtual visit, which is lower-stakes than switching a long-standing local relationship, and decide from there.
About this information
Written by the Presence care team for patients considering care with us. Presence care is delivered by licensed providers, including a board-certified Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner — not by a physician, and not by software. Meet your provider.
This page explains how our service works. It is general information, not a diagnosis, and it is not a substitute for an evaluation of your own situation. Whether testing, treatment or a prescription is appropriate is decided during a visit.
If this is an emergency — chest pain, trouble breathing, stroke symptoms, severe bleeding, or thoughts of harming yourself — call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. See our emergency care notice.
One provider who knows your parent's whole story
Join Presence, or call and tell us what your family is dealing with.