TABLE 5.

Unit costs

Medication*	Cost per unit, $	Cost per claim†, $
Budesonide-formoterol 160 μg/4.5 μg – 120 doses	78.00	90.34
Salmeterol-fluticasone 50 μg/100 μg – 60 doses	71.70	83.41
Salmeterol-fluticasone 50 μg/250 μg – 60 doses	85.80	98.92
Salmeterol-fluticasone 50 μg/500 μg – 60 doses	121.80	138.52
Salbutamol (generic) 100 μg – 200 doses	4.64	9.64
Prednisone 5 mg tablet (80 tablets)	0.009	5.33

Physician visits	Cost per visit, $
GP (minor assessment)	17.30 (Ontario Schedule of Benefits and Fees, A001) (reference 9)
Respirologist (partial assessment)	24.65 (Ontario Schedule of Benefits and Fees, A478) (reference 9)
ER (partial assessment)	24.65 (Ontario Schedule of Benefits and Fees, A418) (reference 9)

Other health care visits	Cost per visit, $
Nurse (follow-up visit)	19.65 (data from reference 10)

Home visits	Cost per visit, $
District nurse	44.95 (data from reference 11)
GP (house call assessment)	40.75 (Ontario Schedule of Benefits and Fees, A902) (reference 9)

Hospitalizations/ER visit	Cost per day/visit, $
Intensive care	1,793.16 (Health Costing in Alberta report) (reference 12)
General care	969.00 (Health Costing in Alberta report) (reference 12)
Visit (does not include physician fee)	120.36 (Health Costing in Alberta report) (reference 12)

Work loss	Cost per hour, $
Average wage, aged 15 years and older	18.90 (Statistics Canada) (reference 13)
Minimum wage	7.45 (Statistics Canada for Ontario) (reference 13)

^*Data are from the Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary/Comparative Drug Index (8);

^†Includes markup, dispensing fee and patient co-payment. ER Emergency room; GP General practitioner