title: Voluntary versus involuntary waiting for joint replacements: new Alberta wait times rules for hip and knee arthroplasties, with provincial consensus.
abstract: Despite various health system improvements across Alberta, the wait times benchmark was not being met for all patients requiring hip or knee arthroplasty. Alberta Health Services Bone and Joint Clinical Network working groups, in collaboration with other provincial organizations, gained consensus on the development and implementation of a set of provincial Wait Times Rules. These rules standardize the definition and measurement of data elements specific to joint replacement and distinguish between voluntary (patient-related) versus involuntary (healthcare system-related) wait times. Collectively, this information will help identify trends in wait times and more accurately show where wait times can be reduced.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Jane Squire
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Howden
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Werle
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fyie
authors.forename: Cy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frank
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; D019985:Benchmarking / Q000379:methods; D032921:Consensus; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D012015:Reference Standards; D012040:Regional Health Planning / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014850:Waiting Lists