Whereas primary care is focused on prevention and management of chronic conditions, urgent care has historically been defined as episodic treatment for non-acute or acutely rising conditions—which are not medical emergencies but generally call for evaluation within 24 hours. As such, it would be expected that urgent care providers would prescribe medications only for the duration of a current infection or until a patient can follow-up with a specialist or primary care physician, for example.
We conducted an analysis of 17.8 million prescriptions written inÂ
2023 by users of the Experity platform and found that 88% of prescriptions were written for 10 days or less. Additionally, 78% of prescriptions were written for exactly 5, 7, or 10 days. And while 6% of prescriptions were written for exactly 30 days, less than 2% of the total were written for greater than 30 days. The breakdown of prescription days is illustrated in the charts.
Download the article PDF: Prescription Duration for Urgent Care Patients
