NP preceptors and clinical sites in Pomona, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Chino

Eight cities between two APU campuses

The Pomona Valley and western Inland Empire straddle the Los Angeles and San Bernardino county line. On January 1, 2026, Ontario was the largest city at 187,863 residents, then Rancho Cucamonga (176,418), Pomona (154,680) and Chino (95,946); Upland, Chino Hills, Montclair and Claremont bring the total to about 847,000.

No APU campus sits inside these cities, but two are close. The Azusa main campus, listed for the MSN with NP specialties, is about 10 miles from Pomona and 15 from Ontario; the San Bernardino campus, which APU calls its Inland Empire Regional Campus, sits about 20 miles east of Ontario. Those are straight-line miles, so the drive runs longer.

APU's 2023-24 guidelines say your campus is assigned at admission and that transfers between campuses are generally not allowed. The regional campuses guide shows which programs run where.

Hospitals from Pomona to Upland and Chino

The region's listed hospitals are Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland, Chino Valley Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente's Ontario Medical Center.

Kaiser is the one with a published student process. Kaiser Permanente Southern California insists on a current agreement with the school before any placement, takes requests from the school's clinical coordinator, and its 2022 FAQ wants three months of lead time. Its pages do not name APU, so raise an Ontario plan with APU's placement team a full term early.

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center carries an unusual label: HRSA lists the hospital itself as an Other Facility primary care shortage site, scored 10. For it and the other two, let APU's Graduate Placement Team tell you whether an agreement already exists before anyone is asked to precept.

Thirty health center sites in eight cities

For family and adult-gerontology primary care, community health centers are the natural first stop. HRSA lists 30 active FQHC or look-alike sites here, run by 13 organizations: Pomona Community Health Center and Health Service Alliance with five each, Unicare Community Health Center four, Mission City Community Network three, and AltaMed Health Services and San Bernardino Public Health two apiece.

Pomona Community Health Center, Unicare in Ontario and Health Service Alliance in Chino also hold HRSA facility shortage designations, so their clinicians' time is stretched, and a student who arrives cleared and on a fixed weekly schedule asks less of them.

Not every center takes students: AltaMed's public pages describe post-graduate NP residencies rather than student rotations. Our guide to California NP preceptors covers how to approach clinics.

Where HRSA marks a shortage

Pomona holds the region's main primary care designation: the low-income Pomona East and South area, scored 9 and updated April 14, 2026. Pomona Central, scored 10, is proposed for withdrawal.

Mental health is sharper. Ontario Northwest carries a low-income mental health designation (score 13, updated September 4, 2026), while Pomona East and South, scored 17, is proposed for withdrawal. That status is not an erasure: the area fell short in HRSA's national review of September 2025, yet HRSA keeps recognizing it until it acts, no later than July 1, 2027.

For PMHNP students the gap is practical. Apart from one course, APU's PMHNP preceptors must be psychiatrists or PMHNPs, and an area short of both means starting early and searching Pomona and Ontario together. The PMHNP clinical courses page sets out who qualifies.

How APU's steps read from the Pomona Valley

The Graduate Preceptor Request form asks for your campus and city of residence, so an Upland student on the Azusa campus and a Chino student on the Inland Empire campus are both ordinary entries. It also asks how the placement came about, listing personal ties, cold calls and work contacts as examples.

APU's recent guidelines add two timing points: tell the placement coordinator about a new preceptor six to eight weeks before the semester, and expect fit for your course and population to outrank distance, with one- to two-hour commutes each way described as common. From here, that range takes in the San Gabriel Valley and Riverside County.

Every site's parent organization has to hold an APU affiliation agreement, and nothing counts until the written clearance arrives.

Why Pomona Valley students choose us

APU students here choose us because we search both sides of the county line at once, from Claremont to Chino Hills, and weigh each option against your campus and course. We match you with a preceptor whose credentials fit APU's rules and gather what the agreement runs on, from the clinic's registered name to its signing authority and the office manager's contact, so your request form is complete the first time. It is the most thorough way to work APU's process from the Pomona Valley.

We ask early whether the organization already holds an APU affiliation agreement, and we remain on call for the whole term, lining up a replacement right away if a preceptor steps away. Tell us about your course or use the form below.

Questions APU students ask