| Cost components | Cost per unit, $ | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Component 1 | ||
| Initial office consultation, urology | 77 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Initial office consultation, radiation oncology | 133 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Component 2 | ||
| Urologist reimbursement for prostate biopsy | 78 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Prostate biopsy (based on 12-sample needle core) | ||
| Pathology | 158 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Professional and technical fees | 183 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Prostate analysis after surgery (prostatectomy with obturator lymph nodes) | ||
| Pathology | 204 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Professional and technical fees | 640 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| PSA test | 11 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Component 3 | ||
| Office visits, urology | 59 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Office visits, radiation oncology | 44 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Urologist reimbursement for radical prostatectomy | 922 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Radiation oncologist reimbursement for radiotherapy | ||
| Computed tomography planning and IGRT plan | 1010 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Intensity-modulated radiotherapy session (includes office visit, image fusion and checking) | 81 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Dose planning, ultrasonography guidance and interstitial implant (brachytherapy) | 735 | RAMQ‡ list (25) |
| Component 4 | ||
| Medication costs (goserelin acetate implant every 3 mo) | 1088 | RAMQ‡ list (26) |
| Nursing (average salary/mo) | 6667 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Component 5 | ||
| Surgical procedure* | 4547 | Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux; (27) Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux: unpublished data, 2012§ |
| Brachytherapy procedure (palladium-103) including seeds cost* | 6700 | CETS; (28) Canadian Patient Cost Database (29) |
| Intensity-modulated radiotherapy procedure† | 7402 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Component 6 | ||
| Anesthesia for surgery | 650 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
| Anesthesia for brachytherapy | 250 | MUHC: unpublished data, 2012 |
Note: CETS = Conseil d’évaluation des technologies de la santé du Québec, IGRT = image-guided radiotherapy, MUHC = McGill University Health Centre, PSA = prostate-specific antigen, RAMQ = Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. *This amount includes intervention, nursing care, diagnosis and therapeutic services. †Includes cost of dosimetry (radiotherapist, planning system and information system), physics quality assurance (physicist, physics associates, specialized quality assurance equipment, planning system and information system) and treatment preparation and delivery (radiotherapy, linear accelerator, nurse, information system) equivalent of 38 fractions. This value does not include overheads. ‡The administrator of the public and universal health care insurance program in Quebec. The costs of medical procedures related to treatments and medical visit costs were based on the RAMQ’s billing manual, (25) and the costs of medications were based on the RAMQ’s list of medications approved for public reimbursement. (26) §Details on collected variables can be found in Performance hospitalière (APR-DRG [J57]). (27)