About Us
The Street Medicine Team’s Low-Barrier Buprenorphine program fits into an overall strategy to expand access to buprenorphine for heroin and opioid users in San Francisco.
Buprenorphine can be started in the emergency room or as an inpatient at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, at the outpatient buprenorphine induction center, or at a primary care clinic in the San Francisco Health Network, a system of top-rated clinics, hospitals and programs operated by the Health Department.
In addition to treatment options, harm reduction has been a long-standing and successful strategy in San Francisco to improve health and save lives. The City provides access to clean syringe and needles to prevent the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C, reducing new infections and transmissions. The naloxone (Narcan) program has kept overdose fatalities low for years by putting the power to reverse overdoses into the hands of people who use drugs and their friends and families, as well as first responders and physicians.
The Street Medicine Team provides multidisciplinary care by professional and peer staff highly knowledgeable in harm reduction, low-barrier medication for addiction treatment (MAT) and working with the target population. Services are offered in a centrally located open access clinic, syringe access sites, navigation centers, encampment health fairs, and street outreach.

Team Roles
Charge Nurse
Health Workers
Registered Nurses
Waivered Providers
Managing Physician
Program Manager
In the News
“In San Francisco, Opioid Addiction Treatment Offered on the Streets”
New York Times | August 18, 2018“SF mayor’s bold plan to treat heroin addicts on the street”
San Francisco Chronicle | May 17, 2018“Some answers about injection drug use by homeless”
San Francisco Chronicle | May 30, 2017“House calls for the homeless: SF shelter comes with medical care”
San Francisco Chronicle | March 21, 2016“A different kind of house call: Teams bring addiction care to patients, wherever they are”
STAT News | September 17, 2018“San Francisco Begins Efforts to Fight Opioid Crisis”
NBC Bay Area | May 17, 2018“San Francisco mayor wants to fund first national program to bring treatment to heroin addicts”
NABC 7 | May 17, 2018“San Francisco Launches First-in-Nation Program to Combat Heroin Use”
Courthouse News Services | May 17, 2018“City Hires Team of Doctors to Treat Addicts on the Street Right Where They Are”
Good News Network | August 19, 2018“San Francisco to Distribute Addiction Drug Directly to Users”
US News & World Report | May 18, 2018