Scope of Care
HAVEN Free Clinic is a student-run clinic that holds one session a week, on Saturday mornings, with every encounter supervised by a licensed attending physician or nurse. Everything on this page follows from that. We take on what a supervised weekly clinic can handle safely and well, and we are direct about the rest.
Our scope-of-care commitment. We will tell you plainly what we can and cannot do, we will never let a limit of ours become a dead end for you, and every time we say no to a service we will hand you the name, number, or appointment that gets you a yes somewhere else.
If you are not sure whether something falls inside our scope, ask. Call (203) 200-0673 and leave a voicemail, or raise it with your care team at your next visit. It is always better to ask than to wait.
What HAVEN Provides
Your visit is free and you do not need insurance. Immigration status never affects your care. Patients are asked to cover medications priced under $25. For medications at or above $25, we screen for your ability to pay and work with you on the cost. No patient is ever denied a medication because they cannot pay. Labs, imaging, or specialty care we arrange for you can generate a bill from Yale New Haven Health, which our insurance counseling team helps you get covered.
Primary and preventive care
- Primary care visitsCheckups, physicals, and ongoing health concerns
- Chronic disease managementHigh blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, and diabetes that is treated with pills rather than insulin
- Lab testing and vaccines for our own patientsBloodwork, screenings, and routine vaccines are part of your ongoing care once you are a HAVEN patient. We do not take walk-ins for a lab draw or a vaccine on its own.
Sexual and reproductive health
- Breast exams and STI screening
- Contraception and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
- Gender-affirming hormone therapyPlus referrals for gender-affirming surgery
Whole-person support
- Behavioral health screening and psycho-educationWith warm referrals to partners for ongoing treatment
- Social needs screening and community resource connectionFood, housing, utilities, transportation, employment
- Health educationDiabetes, nutrition, and self-management
- Interpretation and cultural navigationSpanish at every visit; other languages arranged when you tell us in advance
Navigating the system
- Patient navigation and longitudinal care coordinationA navigator who stays with you between visits
- The Compass ProgramA three-to-five-year path to coverage and a permanent provider
- On-site specialty clinicsDermatology, Nephrology, and Neurology, held on select Saturdays alongside primary care
- Referrals to specialists and diagnostic testingCoordinated with the YNHH Free Care office
- Medical debt and insurance counselingHelp with YNHH Free Care and Medicaid/HUSKY applications
- Low-cost medications through pharmacy partnershipsYou cover medications priced under $25. For anything at or above $25 we screen for your ability to pay and work with you on the cost
Outside Our Scope
Each of these is something we cannot do, paired with what to do instead. None of them is a reason to stop talking to us.
Urgent, same-day illness or injury
A bad flu, a sprain, a cut, a fever that will not wait until Saturday: that is what urgent care and walk-in clinics are for, and they are far cheaper than an emergency room. We are a weekly primary care clinic, so we are not the place to call when you are sick today.
Emergency or life-threatening care
Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988. Emergency rooms must treat you regardless of insurance or ability to pay.
Weekday or after-hours care
We hold one session a week, Saturdays, 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM. Scheduled patients are seen first; walk-ins are taken until 10:30 AM when there is room. For care during the week, a community health center such as Fair Haven or Cornell Scott-Hill can see you.
Prenatal care
We do not see patients who are pregnant. We do offer pregnancy testing, and we will connect you with prenatal care right away.
Diabetes that is treated with insulin
If you take insulin injections, or your diabetes has reached the point of needing them, your doses have to be adjusted between visits and we are only open one morning a week. We do care for diabetes treated with pills. Either way, we will help you get set up with a weekday provider who can manage insulin.
Surgery, imaging, oncology, and specialist procedures
We do not perform these, but we do place the referral and work with YNHH Free Care so you can afford to go.
Direct dental treatment
We do not clean, fill, or extract teeth, and we have no dentist on site. We connect you with community dental providers who do, at no cost to you for the coordination.
Licensed social work, therapy, or crisis intervention
Our behavioral health team screens and educates, then refers you to partners who provide ongoing treatment.
Housing placement, rent payment, or job placement
We refer, we help you apply, and we follow up. We cannot assign you a unit, pay a bill, or place you in a job.
Care for patients under 18 or over 65
We see adults 18 to 65. Outside that range, a community health center or Medicare will be the better route.
Being your permanent doctor
This is the limit that shapes all the others. HAVEN is a bridge. Compass exists to hand you off to a provider who will still be there after us.
If You Need Something We Don't Offer
Three routes cover almost everything outside our scope.
You are sick today
For an illness or injury that cannot wait for Saturday, go to an urgent care or walk-in clinic. If it is life-threatening, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
You need weekday care
Fair Haven Community Health Care (203) 777-7411 and Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center (203) 503-3000 see patients regardless of insurance, on a sliding scale.
You are already our patient
Tell your care team. Your patient navigator exists for exactly this, and referrals can get you in to a specialist affordably.
Not sure where you fall?
Our guide to the American healthcare system lays out every level of care, what each costs, and where HAVEN sits among them.