Gay Health Care

Information may not be reliable

Influenza vaccine is now available for the 2010-2011 season. This year's version is designed to protect against both seasonal and H1N1 ("swine") flu strains. We will bill most insurances for your flu vaccine. For Blue Cross and other "cash pay" patients, our discounted price ($35.00) is very competitive with that of the retail pharmacy chains. Click the "Call Me" button to the right of this message and enter your contact information. Our automated attendant will call you right back so that you can leave a message for our staff to arrange a time to receive your vaccine.

Just click on this button, enter your name, U.S. phone #, & touch "Connect". Our voicemail will call you back and you may leave us a message.

Wilson Ly, Pharm.D., will be available in our office on most Wednesdays and Thursdays. He has a special interest in HIV pharmacy but is a great resource for questions about drug interactions in general. Dr. Ly is also certified in vaccination and in assisting patients with smoking cessation. Join us in welcoming Dr. Ly to our practice.
We have two new medical assistants! Julie is a full-time M.A. She is a graduate of Hunter College in NYC and has volunteered at the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic. Jason works part-time in our office. He is a UCSD grad and has volunteered at the Lyon-Martin Clinic. Please welcome Julie and Jason!

Hi! My name is Bill Owen, M.D. Welcome to my medical practice website. I opened my general internal medicine office in San Francisco in 1979. I am a general practitioner (G.P.) and my practice emphasis is on primary health care of adults. As a gay doctor, I have a special focus on primary care of gay men and lesbians, including patients with HIV/AIDS. I believe that patient education is a keystone in understanding any medical condition and that providers and patients must be active partners in health care.
Please come inside my website and have a look around. Feel free to call us if you have any questions or comments or would like to arrange an appointment.

A very large percentage of the patients in my general practice are gay men and lesbians. Some of my special interests include HIV/AIDS care, sexually transmitted diseases, tourist and travel medicine, personal fitness/bodybuilding and treatment of male sexual dysfunction, including impotence. I offer second opinions, as well as opportunities for clinical research.

In 1977, I founded Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights, the first association of gay doctors and lesbian physicians in the U.S. In 1980, I wrote the first comprehensive reviews of gay health care which were published in the June and July issues of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In 1982, I was honored by the University of California San Diego (UCSD), for my work in gay health care, by having their clinic, which serves the medical needs of lesbians and gay men, designated "The Owen Clinic". In 1988, the American Society of Internal Medicine (now the American College of Physicians) named me as the recipient of its Special Recognition Award, in honor of my work with patients with HIV/AIDS. The involvement of Dr. William Owen in the early years of the AIDS epidemic is also chronicled in the book, AIDS Doctors: Voices from the Epidemic by Gerald Oppenheimer and Ronald Bayer. In June 2000, Bill was honored with the annual Gay Pride Community Service Award by San Francisco PBS affiliate KQED-TV. In January 2004, San Francisco Magazine named Dr. Bill Owen one of the best HIV/AIDS doctors in the San Francisco Bay Area. In January 2005, San Francisco Magazine named William F. Owen M.D. one of the top primary care physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area (see cover of January 2005 issue top left). In 2006, Bay Area Consumers Checkbook named Dr. William Owen as one of the top-rated primary care physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area (see cover of Winter/Spring 2006 issue middle left). Dr. Bill Owen has also been elected by his peers for inclusion in Best Doctors in America from 2003 to 2012.
In 1986, a continuing series about Bill Owen's practice (see picture bottom left) appeared in the American Medical News, the official newspaper of the American Medical Association. It was written by AMNews reporter Sari Staver, and discussed the fact that my practice was one of the first private medical practices to treat large numbers of patients with HIV/AIDS.
I am a member of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) (a national organization of gay doctors), Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights (BAPHR), the HIV Medical Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) , International AIDS Society (IAS), the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM), the Community Consortium of Bay Area HIV/AIDS Providers, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the American College of Physicians (ACP) (formerly the American Society of Internal Medicine), the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), and I am a lifetime member of the American Medical Association (AMA).
More details about my curriculum vitae, bibliography and financial disclosure may be found on my rsum page.

Since 1994, I have worked closely with a physician assistant, Carl Stein, MHS, PA-C, who also sees patients under my care.
Carl received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Michigan and attended the Physician Assistant Program at Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned a Master of Health Sciences degree. His education concentrated on direct patient care and included clinical rotations in inpatient medicine, family practice, emergency medicine, cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, dermatology, surgery, substance abuse treatment, and migrant health care. He passed a rigorous national certification exam and met California state licensing requirements. He is a member of the American Academy of HIV Medicine, the Community Consortium (and serves on the Consortium's Executive Advisory Board), the American Academy of Physician Assistants and the Physician Assistant AIDS Network (PAAN) where he serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Carl is a co-founder of the San Francisco Bay Area Physician Assistants and continues to serve on the association's steering committee. Carl's interest in HIV developed during the 1980s, when he was a volunteer at the Whitman-Walker Clinic and Washington Free Clinic (now part of Whitman-Walker) in Washington, DC.
An article about Carl Stein's background and career was featured as the cover story in the November 2000 issue of News-Line for Physician Assistants. More details about Carl's educational background, publications, and financial disclosure may be found on his curriculum vitae page.

Via Public Transportation
The N-Judah streetcar, the 24-Divisadero trolley bus, and the 37-Corbett bus stop right at our door, across from California Pacific Medical Center, Davies campus. BART connects with the N-Judah line at any of the downtown BART/MUNI stations. The Powell Street and California Street cable cars connect with the N-Judah line at the Powell Street and Embarcadero stations, respectively.

Via Auto from the East Bay and Downtown SF
Take the Bay Bridge (I-80) west to the Mission/Fell Street exit. Stay in the left lane of the off ramp and continue directly forward under the freeway which becomes Duboce Avenue. Continue for 3 long blocks to Market Street. Turn left on Market Street and continue for one block of Market past the Safeway, to where Market, Church and 14th Streets intersect. Then bear right onto 14th Street. Stay on 14th Street for 3 blocks to Castro Street. Turn right block into California Pacific Medical Center, Davies campus parking garage.

Via Auto from the Peninsula and Points South via US Hwy 101
Take US Hwy 101 North to the Mission/Fell Street exit. Stay in the left lane of the off ramp and continue directly forward under the freeway which becomes Duboce Avenue. Continue for 3 long blocks to Market Street. Turn left on Market Street and continue for one block of Market past the Safeway, to where Market, Church and 14th Streets intersect. Then bear right onto 14th Street. Stay on 14th Street for 3 blocks to Castro Street. Turn right block into California Pacific Medical Center, Davies campus parking garage.

Via Auto from the Peninsula and Points South via Interstate Hwy 280
Take I-280 North toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Follow the signs to 19th Ave and continue north 3.4 miles to Lincoln Drive at Golden Gate Park. Turn right on Lincoln and and keep in the left lane until the road turns left through Golden Gate Park. Then keep to the right, the road will turn sharply to the right and become Oak Street. Continue east on Oak 1.0 mile to Scott Street. Turn right on Scott and drive on Scott for 4 blocks. California Pacific Medical Center-Davies Campus is at the end of Scott Street.

Via Auto from Marin County
Take US Hwy 101 South across the Golden Gate Bridge to Lombard Street. Turn left onto Lombard Street and then turn right onto Divisadero Street. Follow Divisadero Street for 2.0 miles until it becomes Castro Street. Then turn left on Duboce Street and right into California Pacific Medical Center, Davies campus parking garage.

* for HMO plans: Dr. Owen is not affiliated with Brown & Toland Medical Group (BTMG) or with Hill Physicians Group; Dr. Owen is affiliated with San Francisco Direct Network

** for HMO, EPO, POS plans: Dr. Owen must be listed as primary care physician (PCP) on your insurance card

We accept most insurances, but require payment of co-payments at the time services are rendered. Be sure to have your health insurance card handy when you call to arrange an appointment, because the office staff will ask specific questions that can only be answered by referring to the card.
For patients who do not have medical insurance or who are insured by plans with which we are not affiliated, we require payment at the time of the office visit. If you are insured, you may submit your bill to your insurance company for reimbursement.
We accept payment by:
cash, checks (California only), Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and ATM (debit) cards.

For information about appointments or for any clinical questions, please contact us via telephone. If you have health insurance, please have your insurance card ready at the time you call.
During our normal business hours, your call will be answered by one of our office staff. At other times you will reach our voicemail system. For routine medical problems, feel free to leave a message after the tone, and be sure to leave your full name and telephone number. Simply hang up after your message is complete. You may bypass the outgoing message at any time and go directly to voicemail. Simply press the pound (#) key during the outgoing message.
If you have an urgent medical problem: please call our answering service at +1 (415) 376-7661. An operator will page the physician on call. Again, be sure to tell the operator your name, telephone number and the nature of your call.
If you have a medical emergency, and if a delay would be detrimental to your health, seek care at the nearest emergency facility or dial 911. Examples of medical emergencies include:

Just click on the button to the left, enter your name, U.S. phone number and then touch "Connect". Our voicemail will call you back and you may leave a message. Our staff will return your call during our normal business hours.

Electronic mail: standard & secure
Standard (non HIPAA-compliant) email (for prospective patients & general information): bill at owenmed dot com or carl at owenmed dot com.
Standard (non HIPAA-compliant) email (to email documents to our staff): office at owenmed dot com
Secure email (for established patients only): Please note: As of April 14, 2003 when the HIPAA privacy law took effect, established patients in our practice may no longer use standard email in order to communicate via email with Dr. William Owen or Carl Stein. DO NOT USE OUR REGULAR E-MAIL ADDRESS. Regrettably, as of March 1, 2006, we have discontinued our participation in the Medem secure email service. If you have any health concerns that need to be addressed, please call our office for an appointment.

Regrettably, as of March 1, 2006 we have discontinued our participation in the Medem online consultation service. Please call our office for an appointment.

Requests for appointments should be made via telephone at +1 (415) 861-2400, not via email. Leave a brief message with the reason for your appointment and telephone numbers where you can be reached. Our office staff checks messages at least every hour during normal business hours and will get back to you shortly. Simply hang up after your message is complete. To bypass the outgoing message and go directly to voicemail, press the pound (#) key at any time during the outgoing message.

Requests for refills should be submitted directly to your pharmacy. Your pharmacy should notify us of this request via fax and we will provide the approval (or denial) via fax.

Send mail to bill at owenmed dot com or carl at owenmed dot com with questions or comments.
Last modified: November 08, 2010