Urgent care providers are fully licensed to prescribe antibiotics, and we do so daily — for strep, UTIs, skin infections, bacterial sinusitis, certain ear infections, and more. Prescriptions go electronically to your pharmacy and are often ready before you get there.
What we won't do is prescribe antibiotics for viral illnesses where they don't work — most colds, most coughs, most sore throats. Unnecessary antibiotics cause side effects and breed resistance. We test when testing helps (rapid strep, urinalysis) so the decision is based on evidence, not guesswork.
We also don't prescribe controlled substances (opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants) through urgent care or telehealth.
