USING A POINT SYSTEM IN THE MANAGEMENT OF WAITING LISTS: THE CASE OF CATARACTS

The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of applying a point system as a guide to the management of waiting lists in National Health Systems. Following recent contributions in the axiomatic theory of justice, the ethical properties of a point system are illustrated. In addition, we present the results of an experiment whose objective was to develop a point system for cataract extraction, based on social preferences. The results of the experiment have shown that the analytic methods used here, of focus groups, interview-administered questionnaires, conjoint analysis, and rank-ordered logit, can be usefully combined to determine the total priority score for each patient.