Your Novant Urgent Care Is Becoming Prisma Health: What Changes for Patients
On November 1, 2026, 36 Novant Health urgent care clinics across South Carolina become Prisma Health Urgent Care. Here is what changes for patients, what stays the same, and what to check before your next visit.
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The short answer: Prisma Health is taking over 36 of Novant Health’s South Carolina urgent care clinics, the network many people still know as Doctors Care. Most clinics stay open at the same address under the Prisma Health Urgent Care name. A small number near existing Prisma sites may close and merge into a nearby location, and Novant is shifting its own patients toward virtual visits.
What Changes and What Stays the Same
What Changes
- The sign and the name: Novant Health Urgent Care becomes Prisma Health Urgent Care.
- The operator: Prisma runs its urgent cares with WellStreet, a company that manages day-to-day clinic operations.
- Follow-up care: referrals and records connect to Prisma’s hospitals and primary care practices rather than Novant’s.
- A few locations near existing Prisma clinics may close and merge into a nearby site.
What Stays the Same
- Most clinics remain at their current addresses.
- Prisma says it is keeping the clinic staff, offering jobs at neighboring clinics to anyone affected by a closure.
- Walk-in care for illnesses and injuries that are not emergencies.
Five Things to Check Before Your Next Visit
- Is your clinic one of the 36? Neither system has published the full list. Call the clinic or check its listing before you go, especially in the 13 cities where both networks operate, including Columbia, Greenville, Lexington, Mount Pleasant and Sumter.
- Your insurance. Prisma Health Urgent Care says it accepts most major insurance plans, Medicaid and self-pay. Confirm your specific plan with the clinic or your insurer after the change.
- Hours. Existing Prisma Health Urgent Care centers are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. Former Novant sites may adopt the same schedule; confirm before you go.
- Your records. Novant says it will work with the new owner on continuity of care. If you need a copy of a recent visit, imaging or test result, request it now so it is easy to share with your next provider.
- Online check-in. Prisma Health Urgent Care offers online check-in and walk-in visits, so the app or website you used to save a spot will likely change.
Urgent Care, Virtual Care or the Emergency Room
Novant says it is moving its South Carolina patients toward virtual care available around the clock, so some people will now choose between a video visit and a clinic. A simple guide:
| Where to go | Good fit for |
|---|---|
| Virtual visit | Colds, mild flu symptoms, rashes, pink eye, prescription questions, minor urinary symptoms |
| Urgent care clinic | Sprains, small cuts that may need stitches, possible fractures, ear infections, strep tests, X-rays |
| Emergency room or 911 | Chest pain, trouble breathing, signs of stroke such as facial drooping or sudden weakness, severe bleeding, serious head injury |
When in doubt about a possible emergency, call 911. Urgent care clinics are not equipped for heart attacks, strokes or major trauma.
Where the Clinics Are
The two networks cover different parts of the state, which is why most patients should see little change in access. Prisma’s existing urgent cares are concentrated in the Upstate and Midlands. Novant’s reach the coast and the Grand Strand, from Little River and Myrtle Beach through Charleston and Mount Pleasant to Bluffton and Hilton Head, plus the Aiken area.
Cities where each group lists clinicians in Medicare’s clinician file, October 2026, analyzed by Healthcare Discovery.
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Who Is Behind the Clinics Now
These clinics have had three owners in two years. BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina owned the Doctors Care network until Novant Health bought it in November 2024. Novant renamed the clinics Novant Health Urgent Care in 2025 and is now selling 36 of them to Prisma Health, South Carolina’s largest nonprofit health system. WellStreet, which manages Prisma’s urgent cares day to day, is backed by the private equity firm FFL Partners.
Want the full deal analysis? Ownership history, clinician data, the real estate under the clinics and what to watch next.
What This Means for You
For most patients, the change is a new name on a familiar door. The bigger shift is where follow-up care leads: an urgent care visit at a Prisma clinic now points toward Prisma’s primary care doctors, specialists and hospitals. If you already see Novant physicians, ask how records and referrals will move between the two systems. If you want a regular doctor who can see you before a minor problem becomes an urgent one, our doctor directory lists primary care physicians across South Carolina.
Questions Patients Ask
Is my Novant urgent care closing?
Most of the 36 clinics stay open at their current sites. Prisma says a small number near existing Prisma locations may be consolidated into a nearby clinic.
When does Novant Health Urgent Care become Prisma Health Urgent Care?
The sale is scheduled to close November 1, 2026, and the clinics then transition to the Prisma Health Urgent Care name.
Is Doctors Care the same as Novant Health Urgent Care?
Yes. Novant bought the Doctors Care network in November 2024 and renamed it Novant Health Urgent Care in 2025. Thirty-six of those clinics now become Prisma Health Urgent Care.
Will Prisma Health Urgent Care take my insurance?
Prisma Health Urgent Care says it accepts most major insurance plans, Medicaid and self-pay. Check your specific plan with the clinic or your insurer.
What happens to the Novant urgent cares that are not part of the sale?
Novant has not said. It is moving away from traditional urgent care sites in South Carolina and expanding virtual care available around the clock.
Sources
- WCSC Live 5: Prisma Health to acquire 36 South Carolina urgent care centers from Novant Health
- Becker’s Hospital Review: Prisma is betting on urgent care growth
- WellStreet: Prisma Health Urgent Care Laurens opening (services and insurance)
- WellStreet: Prisma Health Urgent Care Upstate locations and hours
- Healthcare Dive: Novant closes UCI Medical Affiliates purchase
- JUCM: WellStreet and FFL Partners
- CMS Doctors and Clinicians national file, October 2026, analyzed by Healthcare Discovery
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