Owen Clinic 4168 Front Street, San Diego, CA 92103

"Have contacted Owen Clinic several times attempting to reestablish care with a different physician. A supervisor contacted me weeks ago and said she would get back to me. I am in desperate need of HIV primary care and have heard nothing. Thank you for making me feel unwelcome and unwanted once again!!!"

"I felt sad, scared, and alone when I left this clinic. I felt ridiculed. I felt like a sick person thrown in with the trash. I felt like nothing had changed since the 80’s. The clinic itself is underfunded. It was ghetto. It was unsanitary looking, scary looking. Traumatizing. It made me feel like I deserved less being in there or like I was only worth this gross office. I walked out mid appointment after being laughed at. No one understood that I was new and had zero experience with my condition and talked to me like I was stupid. The front counter was not happy to see me, off putting but not outwardly mean. The nurse talked my ear off about something non related to the appointment for an uncomfortable duration of time. I felt trapped by her long conversation while I am already going through alot being my first visit. She just made me feel anxious when her background was the last thing on my mind. It started with me being simply kind, I hate to complain about it but I felt overwhelmed. My advisor didnt seem to understand my situation or how to properly help, at least thats how it seemed to me. I then later felt, Carlos put himself first and wanted me at UCSD on an insurance plan that made him money. He put the wallet before my healthcare. Carlos was with Covered California…. He canceled my Sharp plan with covered California with intention of moving me over to UCSD while I had no idea what he was doing in the moment… and now I am not able see my primary care doctor. He did not help me get any new coverage. Just cancelled what I had and now I fear I am without medical care as I am being dropped from my HMO next month… Carlos may have made my situation much much worse. I needed someone else that better understands me and my situation. Someone I can communicate clearly with. I have trouble with accents. I couldn’t understand his dialect and he spoke too fast. I tried saying I didnt understand him but it didnt help. I knew I wouldn’t understand him, because the information he was relaying was already hard to understand. It was doomed from the start with the dialect barrier. He never directly answered my questions in a way that I understood. I had more questions and had zero answers after an hour and a half and I told him so politely. When I talked about cost I never got any indication of what to expect. I felt my only hope would be Medi-cal. I never got an answer on if my current insurance would help. No idea. I felt like I was being advised by an insurance employee looking out for the insurance company. Not someone looking out for me. He laughed at the choices I had made in my insurance policy. I didn’t appreciate that. Most people dont understand insurance. Ive done my best, I had great coverage so far. Laughing at my coverage. Made me feel that I am going to be doomed financially. Hope that adds context. I felt unsafe in this clinic and unsure that I would be taken care of. Thats the ultimate feeling that I have for this office. They canceled my insurance in this clinic and I now feel worse off and worried I wont have insurance coverage now."

"HIV care is great here 5 stars to it , however their financial advisors are terrible . They don’t care to get to know their clients and the help is the worst. Patients feel intimidated and bully for one financial advisor in general , many reports and the pharmacist on charge don’t listen and blames patients for being “ complicated “ ."

"Dr. Jill Blumenthal transformed my life and i dont think she knows how detrimental she was to my health, lifestyle, and just general well-being. I can be a little much to deal with I know but her and her team handle it so professionally like I cant begin to thank you enough. I feel so much more confident and healthier and I was able to reach my transition goals. Jill, Jordan, Allan and Cathy gave me the best care I’ve ever received and I want to thank them genuinely for all the hard work they put in. - Love Jaye"

"I've had a mixed experience here. After a lifetime of choosing HCPs with employer-based health insurance, I fell on hard times this past year and have had to go on Medi-Cal. I'm grateful that I'm able to access care, and the Owen Clinic is one of the few reputable providers near me that accepts patients on Medi-Cal. However, this has been a *very* different experience than all of my previous providers. It's not so much the long appointment waitlist and barebones facilities. And most of the staff are extremely nice. But I have felt somewhat patronized and distrusted as a steward of my own health since going here. For my intake appointment, I was literally forgotten about in an exam room for nearly 2 hours before someone walked past and realized I hadn't been seen. I had a fluke infection treated here on an urgent basis, and when the provider who was originally supposed to provide care was significantly delayed, another physician who seemed reluctant to do the procedure herself decided to proceed. When I voiced my suspicion that the incision may not have actually been in exactly the correct location, I was (politely) overridden. Several days later, I wound up in severe pain in the UCSD ER (which is an experience I NEVER want to have again). Finally, I feel as though my new doctor doesn't trust me as a responsible adult and takes an almost lecturing tone with me over medication I've taken for years, which has been prescribed by multiple qualified professionals. My interactions with this doctor leave me with a sense that he assumes I'm unsophisticated and irresponsible as a patient or, even worse, that he thinks I'm trying to scam him for drugs. Again, I appreciate that I'm able to receive medical care, and there are many great people working at the Owen Clinic. Maybe I've been spoiled by private healthcare providers who seem to assume that I'm a competent person with important information to share about my own body and medical history. But between what I've described above and the complete gridlock that is the rest of the UCSD system (endless bureaucracy, long waits to reach clinics via phone, and many-months long waitlists for care), I'm certainly incentivized to find my way back to a regular healthcare plan."