TITLE: Interventions Used to Determine the Appropriate Patient Populations for Cataract Surgery: A Review of the Clinical Evidence and Guidelines

Extended wait times for elective procedures has been an important issue in the Canadian health care system for many years, and sight restoration was among the five priority clinical areas identified and targeted for wait time reduction by the Canadian first ministers in 2004. The extent to which this initiative has been successful for cataract surgery is unclear. According to a recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, while there was a six-percent increase in the number of cataract procedures performed in Canada between 2010 and 2012, the proportion of patients receiving their surgeries within the 16-week benchmark wait time increased by only one percent. The report suggested that increased surgical volumes are not resulting in better wait times because demand is rising at a rate that exceeds the health care system’s ability to meet the needs of the population.