County or city-operated outpatient health care facilities that provide a broad range of diagnostic and treatment services including primary adult and pediatric care, prenatal care, dental care and specialty medicine as well as laboratory and radiological services and allied support services like nutrition and health education. Some public clinics may also offer public health services such as immunizations and communicable disease screening and treatment. Services are available on an ability-to-pay basis and target low-income and indigent residents of the community.

Programs that provide inoculations or other prophylactic measures to prevent susceptible individuals from contracting specific diseases for which means of control have been developed including immunizations recommended specifically for newborns and young children, booster shots to prevent the occurrence of childhood illnesses in adolescence and adulthood, inoculations recommended specifically for pregnant individuals and immunizations against illnesses such as shingles and pneumonia for older adults.

Individuals who have fled their native country and have been given official permission by the government to settle permanently in another country. In the United States, refugee status is given to people who are outside their country of nationality and who are unwilling to return to that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on the individuals' race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Entrant status allows the individual to remain in the U.S., but does not confer true "refugee" status. Asylees are refugees who apply for this status while already in the U.S. (on student or tourist visas, for example).