Setting priorities on waiting lists: point-count systems as linear models

The Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL) is a federally funded initiative designed to develop tools for managing waiting lists. The principal tools developed by WCWL are point-count measures that assess the severity of patients' conditions and the extent of benefit expected from wait-listed services. Points are assigned according to the severity of patients' symptoms and clinical findings. Points on each factor are added and the total score is considered indicative of relative clinical urgency. Such point-count measures function as linear models from a statistical perspective. This paper describes the relevance of this functional relationship for the development and validation of priority criteria.