About NEMS

Overview
History
Key Statistics
Mission, Vision, Values
How to Access Services and Become a NEMS Member

North East Medical Services (NEMS) is one of the largest community health centers in the United States targeting the medically underserved Asian population. Based in San Francisco, the non-profit community health center offers comprehensive health care services to a variety of patients, a majority of whom are uninsured or low-income. NEMS offers linguistically-competent and culturally-sensitive health care services in several Asian languages and dialects, including Cantonese, Mandarin, Toishan, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Korean.

NEMS operates three sites throughout the city, with the main clinic located at 1520 Stockton Street in North Beach/Chinatown, and two satellite clinics at 82 Leland Avenue in Visitacion Valley and at 2308 Taraval Street in the Sunset District.

NEMS has over 20 physicians who offer a range of medical specialties, including Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics/Gynecology, Family Practice, Allergy, Cardiology, Ear Nose Throat, Radiology and Ophthalmology. NEMS also has a Dental Clinic and Optometry Clinic, located at the Stockton Street site. Ancillary services such as mental health, podiatry, nutrition, pharmacy, laboratory and social services additionally strengthen the quality of care that patients receive.

The unique multilingual and culturally sensitive direct service staff allows patients to adequately express themselves in a familiar environment to increase the relevancy and excellence of care they receive. Health education programs, many of which bridge the gap between Western and Asian medical practices, are available at the clinic and through weekly radio broadcasts on local Chinese media. The programs address preventative health care education and practices as it relates to the cultural needs of the community.

NEMS opened its doors in 1971 in response to the lack of adequate health care services for the underprivileged and uninsured Asian community. Over the course of 35 years, NEMS has grown from a small primary health clinic to a large, comprehensive health care organization, serving an estimated 170,000 people since its creation. NEMS became a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in 1992.

In 1999, NEMS formed a managed care Management Services Organization (MSO) to provide medical services for Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and Healthy Kids patients from the San Francisco Health Plan, and has since become the largest enroller of clients into the Healthy Families Program in California. To meet the growing demands for its services, NEMS opened a second clinic in Visitacion Valley in 2001, followed shortly by the opening of a third clinic in the Sunset District in 2004.

• Total Patients: 37,078
• Total Encounters: 196,191
• Percent of Patients who are Uninsured: 53%
• Percent of Patients who are 100% or below Poverty: 60%
• Percent of Patients who are Asian: 96%
• Percent of Patients who are Elderly (65+): 17%
• Percent of Patients who speak little or no English: 86%

Our Mission: To provide affordable, comprehensive, compassionate and quality health care services in a linguistically competent and culturally sensitive manner to improve the health and well-being of our community.

Our Vision: To be a premier community health center offering a comprehensive array of high quality health care services and improving the health status of the communities we serve.

Our Values:

• Caring and Compassion: provide health care and support services focused on, determined by and evaluated by our patients
• Improved Performance: provide health care and support services with ever-increasing quality
• Accessibility and Affordibility: provide health care and support services that reflect the optimum opportunity for patients and meets the requirements of the funding organizations
• Strong Teamwork and Creativity: among all departments and staff that demonstrate our reliance on one another to meet the needs of our patients
• Rewards and Recognition: at personal and organizational levels, for individual and group contributions to the achievement of the mission, vision and values
• Ethical Practice: provide health care and support services that conform to the highest standards of ethical and medical practice
• Financial Responsibility: provide careful management of human and fiscal resources to meet the organization s mission