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Bedlam Clinics

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Bedlam Clinics

The OU-TU School of Community Medicine and OU Health Physicians serve the Tulsa community by providing free healthcare through the Bedlam Clinic. This clinic serves individuals who do not have any type of insurance coverage.

Appointments & Locations

Appointments are required and may be obtained by calling (918) 619-4400.

Free Evening Clinic
Days: Tuesday and Thursday
Hours: 5:00-9:00 p.m.
Patients must arrive by 4:30 p.m.
Appointments start at 5:00 pm
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OU Health Physicians Family Medicine Center
1111 S. St. Louis Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74120
(uninsured adults only)

Longitudinal Clinic
OU Health Physicians Family Medicine Center
1111 S. St. Louis Ave.
Tulsa, OK 74120
(uninsured adults by referral only)

What to Bring to an OU Bedlam Clinic Appointment

To ensure the best possible care, please bring the following to your visit:

  1. Proof of ID: Government issued ID such as drivers license or passport, employee ID card, etc.
  2. Proof of Insurance: If applicable
  3. All Medications in Original Container: All medications including over the counter and prescription
  4. Questions: Bring a list of questions with you to each visit, and plan to actively participate in your treatment.
  5. Family Members: Please bring a family member with you to help with questions, concerns, and follow-up instructions. Patients, families and/or guardians are responsible for taking action to understand the recommended course of treatment and what is expected of them.
  6. Medical History: Please provide a complete medical history to ensure proper care. Patients are responsible for providing accurate, complete information to OU Bedlam staff on any matter relating to their health. Bring all information about your present medical condition, past illnesses, surgeries and hospitalizations.
  7. Allergy Information: It is essential that you provide information on all food and drug allergies.
  8. Emergency Contact Information: Patients must provide accurate personal and emergency contact information, and provide all insurance information.

OU Bedlam and PAL Clinics

The Bedlam Evening Clinic and Physician Assistant Longitudinal (PAL) Student Clinics are unique educational features of the OU-TU School of Community Medicine. The OU Bedlam Evening Clinic was created in response to harsh economic times in Tulsa following the September 11 attacks of 2001. At that time, Oklahoma already ranked near the bottom of the nation in health statistics. After 9/11, Tulsa was second only to San Jose, California, in the number of jobs lost per capita, creating a dramatic rise in the number of uninsured. With nowhere else to go for primary care, those without coverage flooded local emergency rooms, straining hospital budgets and staff, and costing patients much more than a regular physician office visit.

One of the first actions that University of Oklahoma – Tulsa President Dr. Gerard Clancy and other leaders recommended was addressing the needs of the working uninsured by offering free evening clinics initially staffed by medical students and volunteer physicians. In August, 2003, funded by private donations, the Bedlam Evening Clinic, also known as “Bedlam – E,” opened with more than one hundred patients waiting in line. In 2008, the University of Oklahoma – Tulsa Physician Assistant Program was founded. Physician assistant (PA) student training was quickly incorporated into the innovative, interdisciplinary Bedlam – E clinic.

Bedlam – E provides acute and limited specialty care and is open 48 weeks in the year, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 5:00 - 9:00 pm. The clinic provides PA students and medical students with a service-learning experience in team-based, interdisciplinary, evidence-based patient care. Students from the University of Oklahoma Colleges of Nursing, Pharmacy and Social Work are also part of the patient care teams. Students and faculty learn from their practice and continuously evaluate and improve their systems of care.

Bedlam-L provides longitudinal care to patients with chronic diseases. MD and PA students are each assigned a panel of patients that they treat over the course of a year.  


Today, OU-TU School of Community Medicine’s PA students and medical students take leading roles in the operation of the Bedlam and PAL Clinics, supervised by faculty clinicians. “The Bedlam Clinics provide quality, continuous care to many Tulsa-area patients with chronic disease who would otherwise often be in emergency rooms with one crisis after another,” says F. Daniel Duffy, M.D., previous Dean of the OU School of Community Medicine. “Helping to bring their diseases quickly under control has pulled many of them from the brink of serious health crises. They often tell us they don’t know what they’d do or where they’d go for treatment or medicines were it not for the Bedlam Clinics.”

The clinics deliver direct experience in the practice of community medicine, teaching students not only patient care skills but also exposing them to the challenges faced by uninsured individuals.