The COA's National Standards Committee has released its report on  Wait List Benchmarks. "We reviewed the scientific literature and examined a number of different approaches to benchmarks in other countries," says Dr. Hans Kreder, co-chair of the COA's National Standards Committee, "and we concluded that Maximum Acceptable Wait Times were the best way to measure progress. The concept, itself, acknowledges that a patient's health can decline significantly if waiting for surgery becomes very prolonged."

Dr. Kreder also stresses that "maximum" means "we should be able to do much better than three months for an initial appointment and six months for surgery, once we catch up on backlogged patients." Just achieving those maximum wait times will be a serious challenge that could take years, since Canadian patients must often wait at least twice as long to see a surgeon and undergo surgery.