Clinical Services

Welcome!

USC Street Medicine brings medical care designed to meet the needs of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to them in their environment – on the streets, in parks and under bridges – wherever they are.  This includes not just outreach to connect patients to a “brick and mortar” clinic, but real medicine right on the street.

In the mornings we load up our trucks with backpacks full of medications, wound care supplies, materials and equipment for lab collection and testing, harm reduction supplies (including clean syringes), food, water, and much more.  We drive out to the encampments and then we get out of the truck and down on the ground with our patients.  We do this because people experiencing unsheltered homelessness have 3 times the mortality of people in shelters, and 10 times the mortality of their housed neighbors.

At USC Street Medicine we believe that healthcare is a human right, and we are fortunate to be able to provide healthcare within our service area without respect to a patient’s insurance status.

We meet most of our patients through direct outreach at encampments and sidewalks across LA.  However, we also accept self-referrals and referrals from community members for patients experiencing unsheltered homelessness in dire need of healthcare.  Take a look at our service area map to see if you or your friend is in an area we cover.  Feel free to reach out even if you’re not in our area, as we have many friends in the Los Angeles Street Medicine community and may be able to connect you to another team. (Note: Mid-City Team coming January 2024) You can contact us at Streetmedicine@med.usc.edu

Street Medicine Primary Care

Primary Care includes health screenings, diagnosis and treatment of acute (recent) and chronic (longstanding) diseases.  A Primary Care provider is usually the first person you see for medical care.  Street Medicine has four full-time Primary Care teams in the City of Los Angeles (Eastside, South LA, Hollywood and CD1). Each team sees patients on a frequent regular basis to build relationships and support patients in their healthcare goals.  At USC Street Medicine we truly center the patient in their healthcare; we see their goals as our goals, be they functional improvement from chronic disabilities, reducing use of dangerous substances or just getting their chronic wounds under better control.

USC Street Medicine’s Primary Care Teams provide the following services:

• Health Screenings designed to meet the needs of the street
• Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute and Chronic Diseases, including:
  • Birth Control
  • STD Screening and treatment
  • Hepatitis C Screening and treatment
• Substance Use Disorder, including Harm Reduction and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
• Mental Health Disorders, including the use of Long Acting Injectable Antipsychotics (LAIs) and other medications to help patients with bothersome symptoms like hallucinations
• Wound Care
• Point-of-Care Ultrasound
• Blood draws and other specimen collection for lab testing

Street Medicine Special Services

Sometimes our Primary Care teams need to bring in additional team members to help get our patients the support they need.

USC Street Medicine’s Special Services include:

• HIV Care
• Psychiatry
• Occupational Therapy
• Social Work
• Enhanced Care Management