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Free and low cost health care clinics in Central and South Los Angeles
Central and South Los Angeles hold some of the oldest and largest safety net health care in the country. The Watts Health Center opened in the mid-1960s as one of the first community health centers in the United States, St. John's Community Health began in 1964 as a one-room volunteer clinic, and the blocks around skid row now hold a cluster of clinics where people can walk in for medical, dental, and mental health care. This page covers free and low cost care in the central and southern and central area.
Most organizations in downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Koreatown, Westlake and Pico-Union, Echo Park, Boyle Heights and northeast LA, South Los Angeles, Watts, Willowbrook, Compton, Lynwood, and nearby communities are nonprofit community health centers that treat patients with or without insurance, using a sliding fee scale based on income. County-run hospitals and health centers also serve everyone, and the county states that it does not report patients to immigration authorities.
Because Los Angeles County is so large, this is one of four regional guides; the other pages cover the San Fernando Valley and north county, the San Gabriel Valley and southeast county, and the Westside, South Bay, and Long Beach. For details on Medi-Cal, Covered California, and other options for the uninsured, see the guide to health care for the uninsured in California.
County hospitals and health centers run by LA County
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services runs public hospitals and outpatient health centers across this region, with financial screening programs that reduce or eliminate costs for low income and uninsured patients. Los Angeles General Medical Center, the county's flagship public hospital, sits on Marengo Street near Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Outpatient Center on the MLK medical campus in Willowbrook offers primary care, specialty care, and a daily urgent care clinic. Locations and details are at https://dhs.lacounty.gov/. Two county comprehensive health centers anchor the area in between.
- H. Claude Hudson Comprehensive Health Center, at 2829 S. Grand Ave. near downtown, provides adult and pediatric primary care, women's health, specialty clinics, a pharmacy, and urgent care that generally runs into the evening; call (213) 699-7000.
- Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center serves South Los Angeles with a similar range of care. Hours and financial screening rules change, so confirm before going.
County public health clinics and help lines
The LA County Department of Public Health runs public health centers offering free or very low cost immunizations, STD and HIV testing and treatment, and tuberculosis services. In this region, Central Health Center at 241 N. Figueroa St. downtown, reachable at (213) 288-8204, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Public Health in Willowbrook carry these services. The county consolidated its public health clinics in early 2026 and fewer sites now offer clinical services, so check http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ or call before visiting.
Two countywide phone lines are worth saving. The county's 24/7 help line for mental health and substance use services is (800) 854-7771, run by the Department of Mental Health, and it handles crisis support, screenings, and referrals in many languages. Dialing 2-1-1 or visiting https://211la.org/ connects residents to health, housing, food, and other assistance programs anywhere in the county.
Skid row and downtown clinics
JWCH Institute / Wesley Health Centers — appointments at (866) 733-5924, https://jwchinstitute.org/. Wesley's Center for Community Health at 522 S. San Pedro St. anchors the Skid Row Care Collaborative, where walk-ins are welcome and services run days, evenings, and weekends. Care includes medical, dental, psychiatry and mental health, optometry and eyeglasses, podiatry, pharmacy, substance use treatment, and HIV and hepatitis C care, with a focus on people experiencing homelessness. Wesley operates additional health centers across Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles Christian Health Centers — (213) 893-1960, https://www.lachc.com/. This federally qualified health center runs the Joshua House Clinic in the heart of skid row and the Pico Aliso clinic in Boyle Heights, plus part-time sites inside partner shelters and agencies. Patients of any faith or background can get medical, dental, optometry, and mental health care, generally Monday through Saturday, regardless of ability to pay.
Eisner Health — (213) 747-5542, https://eisnerhealth.org/. Serving Los Angeles since 1920, Eisner's downtown health center on Olive Street offers adult medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN and prenatal care, dental, optometry, behavioral health, and an on-site pharmacy. Eisner opens its doors regardless of income, insurance, or immigration status, and also operates a Lynwood clinic whose OB/GYN team delivers at MLK Community Hospital, along with San Fernando Valley locations covered on the Valley page.
Hollywood, Koreatown, Westlake, and northeast Los Angeles
Saban Community Clinic — (323) 653-1990, https://www.sabancommunityclinic.org/. Saban began more than five decades ago as the Los Angeles Free Clinic and now runs health centers on Beverly Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, Melrose Avenue, and Virgil Avenue. Every patient can use its sliding fee discount program regardless of insurance status, and many pay nothing based on income.
Services span medical, dental, vision, behavioral health, and an on-site pharmacy. The Hollywood Health Center adds services for people experiencing homelessness, including free walk-in showers on weekday mornings, generally Tuesday through Friday.
Gracelight Community Health (formerly QueensCare Health Centers) — referrals at (800) 454-1800, https://gracelight.org/. Gracelight's health centers in Hollywood, East Hollywood, Westlake, Echo Park, and Eagle Rock provide primary care for adults and children, dental, optometry, podiatry, women's health, and pharmacy services to patients regardless of ability to pay. The name changed in recent years, so older directories still list these clinics under QueensCare.
Kheir Clinic — (213) 235-2500, https://www.lakheir.org/. Founded in 1986 to bridge Koreatown's immigrant community to care, Kheir is a federally qualified health center offering free and low cost primary care, dental, vision, and behavioral health on a sliding fee schedule. It is notable for full services in English, Korean, Spanish, Bengali, and Thai, serving Koreatown and the neighboring Little Bangladesh community.
Asian Pacific Health Care Venture — (323) 644-3888, https://www.aphcv.org/. APHCV's Los Feliz Health Center on Hillhurst Avenue in East Hollywood provides family practice, pediatrics, women's health, family planning, and integrated mental health, with interpretation across many Asian and Pacific Islander languages as well as Spanish. Staff also help patients apply for Medi-Cal and other coverage.
Chinatown Service Center — (213) 808-1700, https://www.cscla.org/ The largest Chinese American community health and human services organization in Southern California, founded in 1971, CSC runs a federally qualified health center in Chinatown with additional clinics in Alhambra, Monterey Park, and San Gabriel. Patients receive medical, dental, behavioral health, and optometry care with income-based discounts, in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and several Chinese dialects.
Cl�nica Monse�or Oscar A. Romero — (213) 989-7700, https://clinicaromero.com/. Founded in 1983 by Salvadoran civil war refugees and volunteer physicians, Cl�nica Romero serves the Pico-Union/Westlake and Boyle Heights neighborhoods regardless of ability to pay. Its clinics provide primary care, dental, behavioral health and substance use treatment, vision care, and pharmacy services with deep roots in the Central American community.
Arroyo Vista Family Health Center — (323) 254-5291, https://www.arroyovista.org/. Arroyo Vista operates health centers across northeast Los Angeles, including Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, and El Sereno, plus a mobile medical clinic. Care includes medical, dental, behavioral health, and vision services on a sliding fee scale, with immunizations, prenatal care, and chronic disease management for the whole family.
Northeast Community Clinic — https://necccare.com/. Despite the name, this federally qualified health center network now stretches well beyond its Highland Park roots, with clinics in northeast LA, downtown, and other parts of the county, including a diabetes and endocrinology specialty center on Grand Avenue. Check the locations page for the clinic nearest you and its direct phone number.
Los Angeles LGBT Center — health services at (323) 993-7500, https://lalgbtcenter.org/. The Center's federally qualified health clinics in Hollywood offer primary care, HIV specialty care, sexual health, transgender health, mental health, and pharmacy services regardless of ability to pay. Its Center South location on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, reachable at (323) 860-3799, brings primary care, sexual health, and support services to South Los Angeles.
South Los Angeles, Watts, Compton, and Lynwood
Watts Healthcare — (323) 564-4331, https://www.wattshealth.org/. The Watts Health Center at 103rd Street and Compton Avenue opened in the mid-1960s after the Watts uprising and stands among the first community health centers in the nation. Today the nonprofit also runs the Crenshaw Community Health Center and other South LA sites, plus the House of Uhuru substance use treatment program.
Patients with or without insurance receive care at little to no cost, including adult and pediatric primary care, dental, behavioral health, OB care, optometry, podiatry, and an urgent care clinic that generally operates Monday through Saturday. Same-day appointments are often available; confirm hours before going.
St. John's Community Health — appointments at (323) 541-1411, https://www.sjch.org/. What started in 1964 as a one-room, volunteer-run children's clinic is now one of the largest nonprofit health center networks in Los Angeles, with clinics across Central and South LA and Compton, including sites at schools and inside affordable housing. Anyone can be seen regardless of ability to pay, with a sliding fee scale for the uninsured and benefits counselors at every clinic.
Services cover medical, dental, behavioral health and substance use treatment, women's health, pediatrics, pharmacy, and transgender health, with case managers who help with food, housing, and legal needs. Appointment lines are generally staffed Monday through Saturday.
T.H.E. Health and Wellness Centers — (323) 730-1920, https://www.tohelpeveryone.org/. Founded in 1974 by volunteers to bring care to uninsured women in South Los Angeles, To Help Everyone now serves patients of all ages and genders at health centers across South LA, including sites on Western Avenue and near Baldwin Hills. Services include primary care, dental, behavioral health, family planning, STD testing and treatment, chiropractic care, and nutrition counseling on an affordable, sliding scale basis.
UMMA Health — (323) 789-5610, https://www.ummahealthca.org/. UMMA grew out of the 1992 civil unrest, when UCLA students founded the first Muslim American community health organization in the country, opening its South LA clinic in 1996. Its Florence Avenue health center offers primary care for adults and children, women's health, behavioral health, and HIV and STI testing, with fees adjusted to income and many services free for those who qualify.
South Central Family Health Center — (323) 908-4200, https://scfhc.org/. SCFHC began in 1981 as a small storefront clinic founded by a doctor and a nurse practitioner, and it now cares for South LA and southeast county families from its Central Avenue home and other locations, including Huntington Park and Montebello. Patients receive medical, dental, vision, behavioral health, and chiropractic care regardless of ability to pay, generally with weekday and Saturday hours.
Kedren Health — (323) 233-0425, https://www.kedren.org/. Kedren is unusual in combining a nonprofit psychiatric hospital with a federally qualified community health center on its Avalon Boulevard campus, serving South Los Angeles for more than sixty years. Walk-ins are welcome for primary care, and the organization provides outpatient mental health services for children and adults, along with a monthly community food bank.
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles — (800) 576-5544, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/. PPLA operates health centers throughout the county, with several in central and South Los Angeles, offering birth control, pregnancy testing, prenatal referrals, STD testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and abortion services on a sliding scale. Same-day and next-day appointments are generally available, and many services can also be handled by phone or video visit.
Low cost dental in Central and South Los Angeles
The Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC runs large student teaching clinics near Exposition Park where supervised dental students provide cleanings, fillings, extractions, root canals, dentures, and orthodontics at well below private practice rates; call (213) 740-2805 or see https://dentistry.usc.edu/. The school accepts Medi-Cal dental coverage for many services. Treatment takes longer than at a private office because students work under faculty supervision, so plan for several visits.
USC also partners with the Union Rescue Mission on skid row to run a free dental clinic for people experiencing homelessness in the downtown area, and it is generally the only skid row dental clinic that also treats children. In addition, most of the community health centers listed above, including St. John's, Watts Healthcare, T.H.E., South Central Family Health Center, Eisner, Cl�nica Romero, Kheir, and Chinatown Service Center, run their own dental clinics with sliding scale fees, which is often the fastest route to affordable care near home.
Clinics in other parts of Los Angeles County
This page covers the central core and South Los Angeles. Separate guides cover free and low cost clinics in the San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita, and the Antelope Valley; the San Gabriel Valley and southeast Los Angeles County; and the Westside, South Bay, and Long Beach. Residents can also find any federally funded health center by address at https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/.
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