Table 1.

Average cost per patient per unit

Type of visit or service	Average unit costa (US$)
Hospital emergency room	975
Hospital clinic or outpatient department	814
Primary care physician	156
Medical specialist	223
Other medical care	194
Urgent care	176
Medication	81

^aUnit cost is cost per visit for all items in this table, except for medication. For medication, the unit cost is the average amount charged for one prescription. Sources: For all entries in this table except for urgent care, cost estimates come from the 2012 Medical Panel Expenditure Survey (MEPS) database [18]. For urgent care, costs come from Mehrotra et al. [19]