We serve a diverse range of adult patients of all ages and a wide variety of backgrounds. Please note that we only serve patients who do not have medical insurance.

From its founding days to the present time, Pacific has been staffed by Stanford medical, graduate, and undergraduate students. Clinical cases are overseen by an attending physician or resident. Because Pacific operates as a teaching clinic, patients should anticipate being evaluated by multiple individuals.

All on-site services, including physician consultations, exams, available vaccines, and specialty care, are free. Blood and urine tests (drawn on-site or at Stanford Labs) are free. X-rays at Stanford (to which we can refer patients) are free. For other services such as ultrasounds or specialist care outside of our on-site clinic, we refer patients to local facilities, many of which provide financial assistance for eligible individuals. As a transitional care facility, we aim to connect all patients with a low-cost long-term primary care provider.

PFC sees patients on a walk-in basis between 8 AM and 10 AM, no appointments needed. Doors open at 8 AM. Please arrive early! Dates for specialty clinics vary and should be confirmed prior to arrival. Confirmed specialty clinic patients should arrive at the scheduled time. 

[Note: we do not guarantee any maximum wait time; these are estimated times only.] For walk-in patients, wait time depends on your order of arrival and often range from 15-60 min under normal circumstances. For return patients with appointments, wait times are generally less than 30 min. Once your visit begins, it may take 1-3 hours to finish depending on which on-site services you need. Please tell clinic volunteers about any time constraints at the beginning of your visit so you can determine together whether your visit can be conducted within the desired time.

Unfortunately, we are not able to see patients under the age of 18.

There are always Spanish and Mandarin interpreters at Pacific. We have an interpreter service that allows us to communicate with patients who speak other languages.

1) A front desk volunteer will greet you, ask you to fill out registration information, and take your height and weight.

2) A preclinical volunteer (medical student or experienced non-medical student undergraduate) will speak with you about your health concerns.

3) You may be accompanied by an interpreter or a care facilitator (non-medical student undergraduate) to guide you through your visit.

4) A physician will speak with you, perform any necessary exams, and recommend actions.

5) A physician assistant student or medical student may draw your blood if the physician orders blood tests. A lab assistant (non-medical student volunteer) will guide you through the process.

6) You may speak with a health educator, referrals volunteer, or insurance enrollment volunteer (non-medical student undergraduate) during your visit.

7) When leaving, please confirm any future appointments with the front desk.

Periodically, we host international medical students, high school students, other college students, and physicians’ guests as visitors. They may ask to observe your conversations with clinic staff for educational purposes. You have the right to refuse such observations at any time.

Pacific Free Clinic is staffed by volunteer students and physicians, so our phone number is not monitored. Please leave us a voicemail with your name, DOB (for returning patients), and phone number, and we will return your call as soon as possible.

If you are not a current patient at Pacific Free Clinic, you will have to complete a new-patient visit before our physicians can write you a prescription. For patients with previous prescriptions from Pacific Free Clinic, please call us at (650) 721-2786 with your name, DOB, medication name and dose, and the address of your preferred pharmacy. However, we highly discourage patients from relying on Pacific Free Clinic for long-term medications, as we have limited resources and aim to connect all patients with other institutions better equipped to provide long-term healthcare.

Yes. We refer patients to local, low-cost clinics for follow-up of complex medical problems and for continuing care. Pacific cannot pay for services provided by other clinics.

If you are not an enrolled MD Student or clinical provider, all other volunteers must be enrolled at Stanford and registered in Med 182 for the quarter of service.

Please see our ICM program (link here) for San Jose high schoolers.

Approved programs (ICM) may shadow at PFC. Due to limited room space and concern for patient privacy and well-being, the student manager on duty reserves the right to restrict the number of shadowing individuals.