Table 2.
Health care use and estimated direct health care costs for all study participants (n = 812)
| Resource | Participants consuming resource, % |
Usage among participants consuming resource |
Overall usage, all participants |
Annual cost per person, mean ± SD* |
Share of total direct cost, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct health care costs | |||||
| Inpatient | |||||
| Acute care hospitalizations | 21.1 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 6,153 ± 19,977 | 48.7 |
| Long-term care hospitalizations | 0.9 | 1 | 0.01 | 177 ± 2,213 | 1.4 |
| Outpatient | |||||
| Total physician visits | 99.9 | 17.8 | 17.8 | 1,465 ± 1,212 | 11.6 |
| Other health professional visits | 41.3 | 22.6 | 9.3 | 186 ± 554 | 1.5 |
| Physiotherapy visits | 21.0 | 16.8 | 3.5 | 201 ± 697 | 1.6 |
| Emergency department visits | 39.1 | 2.3 | 0.9 | 369 ± 816 | 2.9 |
| Outpatient surgical procedures | 21.8 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 408 ± 1,159 | 3.2 |
| Dialysis, months/year | 2.6 | 10.7 | 0.3 | 440 ± 2,828 | 3.5 |
| Medications | 99.0 | 6.1 | 6.0 | 3,244 ± 3,799 | 25.7 |
| Total direct cost | 12,643 ± 23,741 | 100.0 | |||
| Total direct cost (low estimate)† | 10,359 ± 22,727 | ||||
| Total direct cost (high estimate) | 13,846 ± 24,426 |
*
In 2004 US dollars.
†
Where uncertainty existed, low and high estimates were made based on varying levels of resource use. For example, the low estimate assumes less intense use of inpatient physician services (1 physician involved in care) and a shorter duration of medication use (3 months).