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Because of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, the economic costs associated with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchospasm are a significant portion of total overall treatment costs. A small proportion of patients account for most of the costs, due to disease severity and acute exacerbations. Disease management programs, sponsored by insurance groups and employers, are lowering health and disability costs and reducing days missed from work and school because of exacerbations. Quality-of-life patient assessments are available to assist practitioners in evaluating disease status. Evidenced-based medicine analysis can show that less expensive therapies are not necessarily cost-effective. A study of the rate of hospital admissions from the emergency department showed that although levalbuterol therapy in the emergency department was more costly than racemic albuterol therapy, total overall treatment costs were reduced because of decreased hospitalizations in the levalbuterol-treated patients. Thus, providers, payers, and patients should examine all the scientific evidence (safety, efficacy or effectiveness, economics, and humanistic benefits) to make the most informed health care decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]