Urgent Care Visits Often Linked to Inappropriate Prescribing
MONDAY, July 21, 2025 -- Urgent care visits are often associated with inappropriate prescriptions of antibiotics, glucocorticoids, and opioids, according to a research letter published online July 22 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Shirley Cohen-Mekelburg, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues examined inappropriate antibiotic, glucocorticoid, and opioid prescribing during urgent care visits in a cross-sectional study of outpatients of all ages with an urgent care place-of-service code from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2022. Data included represented more than 270 million Americans and 12.9 million Medicare supplemental beneficiaries.
A total of 10,773,218 patients from 22,426,546 urgent care visits were identified. The researchers found that 12.4, 9.1, and 1.3 percent of visits led to antibiotic, glucocorticoid, and opioid prescription fills, respectively. For visits for upper respiratory and urinary tract infections, antibiotics were found to be always appropriate for 58.2 and 63.9 percent, respectively; antibiotic prescriptions were frequently filled for never-appropriate indications, including otitis media, genitourinary signs and symptoms, and acute bronchitis (30.66, 45.7, and 15.0 percent, respectively). Glucocorticoid prescription fills were generally inappropriate, although commonly prescribed at visits for upper respiratory infections, sinusitis, and acute bronchitis (11.9, 23.9, and 40.8 percent, respectively). At visits for nonback musculoskeletal pain, abdominal pain and digestive symptoms, and sprains and strains, opioid prescription fills were common, although generally inappropriate (4.6, 6.3, and 4.0 percent, respectively).
"Urgent cares continue to demonstrate inappropriate antibiotic, glucocorticoid, and opioid prescribing, reinforcing the need for multifaceted programs to reduce inappropriate prescribing and potential harm," the authors write.
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