San Francisco, Portland, and Boston share a common profile: high-income, biotech-adjacent, early-adopter patient pools that drive demand for HBOT. The supply mix is different in each city. We rank by the same evidence standards across all three.
We pulled the UHMS accredited facility directory for California, Oregon, and Massachusetts. We cross-checked our own dataset of 79 mapped HBOT entities across the three states. We also checked the FDA 510(k) database for cleared chamber models.
The FDA has cleared HBOT for 13 specific uses. Anything else — long COVID, autism, brain injury, anti-aging — is off-label.
Off-label is not illegal. It is also not FDA-cleared. We flag the line throughout this guide.
What "best" means here
Most "best HBOT" listicles rank by Google reviews. That tells you about waiting-room comfort, not clinical quality. We rank by three things that map to outcomes.
First, UHMS accreditation. The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society audits sites every three years. "With Distinction" is the top tier.
Second, chamber type and pressure. A hard-shell monoplace at 2.0-2.4 ATA delivers about 10 times the oxygen of a soft-shell at 1.3 ATA (Tibbles & Edelsberg 1996). The two are not the same drug.
Third, who runs the program. Wound-care HBOT runs under a doctor trained in undersea and hyperbaric medicine. Wellness HBOT often runs under a chiropractor or tech.
San Francisco Bay Area
California has 6 UHMS-accredited HBOT sites total. Only one sits in the Bay Area itself.
| Facility | Parent Hospital | City | Distinction | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperbaric Medicine | John Muir Medical Center | Walnut Creek | No | (925) 947-3212 |
UCLA Hyperbaric Medicine in Los Angeles holds "With Distinction" but is a 6-hour drive south. The closest Bay Area accredited program is John Muir in Walnut Creek, east of Oakland.
A few wellness and integrative sites operate in the Bay Area but none hold UHMS accreditation:
- Bay Area Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (Mountain View) — hard-shell monoplace
- HBOT Bay Area (San Francisco) — hard-shell, integrative-medicine framing
- Restore Hyper Wellness (SF, Berkeley, San Mateo, Mountain View, Walnut Creek) — soft-shell 1.3 ATA
- Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy of San Francisco (Daly City) — hard-shell
The Bay Area is one of the largest US metros with the thinnest UHMS-accredited HBOT coverage. Travis Air Force Base hosts Hyperbaric Medicine Flight at David Grant USAF Medical Center (UHMS-accredited "With Distinction"), but it serves military patients first.
For more on what UHMS accreditation actually verifies, see our explainer on UHMS-accredited facilities. The short version: it audits safety, not efficacy.
Portland, Oregon
Oregon has 1 UHMS-accredited HBOT site total. It sits an hour south of Portland.
| Facility | Parent Hospital | City | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samaritan Wound, Vein, & Hyperbaric Medicine | Samaritan Albany General Hospital | Albany | (541) 812-3360 |
Portland-area wellness and hard-shell options not on the UHMS list:
- Portland Hyperbarics (Tigard) — hard-shell monoplace
- Pacific Hyperbarics (Beaverton) — hard-shell, integrative framing
- OHSU Wound Healing Center (Portland) — hospital wound program
- Legacy Wound and Hyperbaric Center (Portland) — hospital wound program
OHSU and Legacy run hospital wound programs but neither is currently UHMS-accredited per the 2025 directory. That does not mean the programs are unsafe. It does mean they have not paid for and passed the three-year external audit.
For people in Portland with an FDA-approved use, OHSU and Legacy are the most credible local options. For wellness use, the hard-shell independent sites give the most chamber pressure for the money.
Boston
Massachusetts has 4 UHMS-accredited HBOT sites. All are hospital wound programs around Greater Boston.
| Facility | Parent Hospital | City | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wound Healing Center | Anna Jaques Hospital | Newburyport | (978) 463-1303 |
| The Wound & Hyperbaric Medicine Center | Beverly Hospital | Beverly | (978) 921-1210 |
| Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Center | Winchester Hospital | Medford | (781) 396-8224 |
| The Wound Care Center | UMass Memorial Health Harrington | Charlton | (508) 248-8129 |
The cluster covers North Shore (Newburyport, Beverly), inner-ring suburbs (Medford), and Central Mass (Charlton). None hold "With Distinction" in the 2025 directory.
Boston-area independent and academic options not currently on the UHMS list:
- Massachusetts General Hospital Hyperbaric Medicine (Boston) — hospital program
- Brigham and Women's (Boston) — hospital program
- New England Center for Hyperbaric Medicine (Cambridge) — hard-shell, private
- Restore Hyper Wellness (multiple metro Boston sites) — soft-shell 1.3 ATA
Mass General runs one of the older academic HBOT programs in the country. It serves emergency cases (the bends, carbon monoxide) plus wound referrals. See the decompression sickness evidence atlas for the full study-by-study evidence breakdown.
Wellness chains across all three metros
Restore Hyper Wellness runs roughly 12 Bay Area sites, 3 Portland sites, and 8 Boston-area sites. All Restore sites use soft-shell 1.3 ATA chambers, typically OxyHealth or Summit to Sea brand. Per-session pricing runs $50 to $100.
Soft-shell chambers fall under the FDA's "general wellness" rules (FDA guidance 2019). They are not FDA-cleared to treat any condition.
Restore makes this clear in its disclaimers. The marketing copy can blur the line, so read it carefully.
If you are weighing a 1.3 ATA session, our comparison of mild vs medical HBOT lays out where the evidence supports each.
How chambers are regulated
The FDA's 510(k) database lists 69 cleared hyperbaric chambers under product code CBF. This is the medical-device path. It covers most hard-shell hospital chambers.
Vendors with multiple FDA clearances include Sechrist Industries (5 since 1991) and Perry Baromedical (6 across two corporate entities). Reimers Systems holds 5.
Hard-shell chambers in West Coast and Northeast hospitals are usually Sechrist or Perry Baromedical models. Ask the clinic for the brand and serial.
Soft-shell chambers at 1.3 ATA are a separate class. They come mostly from OxyHealth and Summit to Sea. Most are not FDA-cleared as medical devices.
They fall under the general wellness path. The path requires only that the chamber be low-risk and avoid disease claims.
For the full list of 510(k)-cleared chambers, see our FDA-cleared chambers list.
Insurance coverage in these three states
Medicare covers HBOT for 14 conditions (CMS LCD L33718). The most common in practice is Wagner grade 3+ diabetic foot ulcer after 30 days of failed standard care.
Late-effect radiation tissue damage and chronic refractory osteomyelitis are next. Carbon monoxide poisoning and the bends are the emergency uses. See the osteomyelitis evidence atlas for the full study-by-study evidence breakdown.
State Medicaid in CA, OR, and MA follows Medicare for most HBOT uses. Anthem Blue Cross (CA), Regence (OR), Blue Cross Blue Shield (MA), Aetna, and UnitedHealthcare follow Medicare too. Prior authorization is standard.
Off-label uses are almost never covered. The VA system has studied HBOT for TBI and PTSD. It has not adopted HBOT as standard care for those uses.
What to ask before booking
A few questions cut through the marketing.
What is the chamber make and model? Look up the K-number on openFDA. If the clinic cannot answer, that is a red flag.
What pressure does the chamber run at? Hard-shell clinical chambers run 2.0 to 2.4 ATA. Soft-shell wellness chambers run 1.3 ATA.
Who is the supervising doctor? For FDA-approved uses, look for UHMS or ABPM certification. For wellness use, ask anyway.
Is the site UHMS-accredited? Use the UHMS directory to verify. Self-reported claims are sometimes wrong.
What is the cost per session, and how many sessions? The standard wound-care protocol is 30 to 40 sessions.
Aviv Clinics: the elephant outside the room
Aviv Clinics does not operate in SF, Portland, or Boston in 2026. Its only US site is The Villages, Florida. We mention it because tech-corridor patients regularly travel to Aviv on the recommendation of local wellness clinics.
The Aviv protocol is a 60-session anti-aging program priced near $50,000. It draws on research from the Sagol Center in Israel (Hadanny et al. 2020).
The research is real. The way it gets marketed exceeds what the trials actually show. We walk through the gap in our Aviv evidence-vs-marketing analysis.
Off-label uses: what the evidence shows
Bay Area, Portland, and Boston clinics market HBOT for a long list of off-label uses. The evidence base varies.
On traumatic brain injury: the HOPPS trial (2015) and DoD BIMA trial (2018) found no benefit over sham. The largest controlled trials do not show clear benefit.
On long COVID: a 2022 Israeli RCT showed cognitive gains in 73 patients after 40 sessions at 2.0 ATA. The study has been criticized for sham-control problems. More trials are running.
On autism: the Rossignol 2009 trial reported benefit at 1.3 ATA in 62 children. A later Granpeesheh 2010 trial found no benefit. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend HBOT for autism.
Our HBOT for ADHD evidence review covers neurodevelopmental claims in more depth.
Major medical centers: institutional silence
A pattern worth noting. The major academic centers in these three metros do not publicly promote HBOT for off-label conditions. UCSF, Stanford, OHSU, MGH, and Brigham all run hyperbaric programs.
All restrict them to FDA-approved uses. The contrast with marketing clinics is sharp.
We unpack why in our institutional silence on HBOT analysis. Research-active centers see the same data wellness clinics do. They have chosen not to translate that into clinical practice for off-label uses.
Bottom line for patients in these three metros
If you have an FDA-approved use in the Bay Area, John Muir in Walnut Creek is the closest UHMS-accredited site. Travis AFB is the nearest "With Distinction" site for military patients.
If you are in Portland with an FDA-approved use, OHSU or Legacy are the most credible local options. Samaritan in Albany is the closest UHMS-accredited site.
If you are in Boston, the four UHMS-accredited Mass. sites cover the North Shore and Central Mass. Mass General is the most accessible major academic program.
If you are weighing HBOT for an off-label use, slow down. Read the relevant trials. Talk to a doctor outside the clinic recommending the protocol.
Related Reading
- How to verify a clinic's chamber is medical grade
- FDA-cleared hyperbaric chambers complete list
- Mild HBOT vs medical HBOT: why 1.3 ATA is controversial
- Best HBOT clinics in Los Angeles 2026
- Best HBOT clinics in Seattle 2026
Frequently asked questions
How much does HBOT cost in these three metros without insurance?
Hard-shell clinical sessions run $250 to $500. Soft-shell wellness sessions run $50 to $100. A standard 40-session course in any of these metros ranges from $2,000 to $20,000 out of pocket.
Does Medicare cover HBOT in CA, OR, and MA?
Yes, for the 14 specific uses listed in CMS LCD L33718. Prior authorization is required. Off-label uses are not covered.
Are soft-shell chambers FDA-approved?
Most are not FDA-cleared as medical devices. They fall under the FDA's general-wellness policy, which allows sale for non-medical wellness use but bars disease-treatment claims.
Can I get HBOT for long COVID in these metros?
Some clinics offer it as off-label care. Insurance does not cover it. The strongest supporting trial is small and methodologically debated.
Which of the three metros has the strongest UHMS-accredited coverage?
Boston, with 4 UHMS-accredited Mass. sites across Greater Boston and Central Mass. The SF Bay Area has only one nearby. Portland has none in the metro itself.
Medical disclaimer: This guide is informational and does not constitute medical advice. HBOT carries real risks including ear barotrauma, oxygen toxicity, and chamber fire. Discuss any HBOT plan with a doctor trained in undersea and hyperbaric medicine before starting. The FDA has cleared HBOT for 13 specific uses; uses outside those are off-label and not supported by FDA review.
-- The HBOT Finder Team