Identification of Criteria for Patient Prioritization in Two Specialized Rehabilitation Programs: A Consensus-Seeking Method

Patient prioritization, which is the process of ranking in a certain order based on various criteria, might be a good strategy to help manage access to healthcare services in a fair and equitable manner. It implies a decision-making process about prioritization criteria, and diverges substantially across programs. This process should thus be performed using a rigorous process that considers the various needs of the patients and evaluates them in a valid and reliable manner using prioritization tools carefully designed. In such tools, the prioritization criteria are often not standardized, not evidence-based or only based on individual clinical judgment. There is a need to document the criteria in rehabilitation programs. The aim of our study is to use a group method to obtain a consensus about patient prioritization criteria in two rehabilitation programs. We performed a group consensus-seeking method, Technique for Research of Information by Animation of a Group of Experts aiming to select prioritization criteria, which combines an individual and a group phase. Experts of both programs selected 10 criteria during a group discussion to prioritize patients in their respective programs. A group consensus method could promote a shared decision-making process between stakeholders to develop a prioritization tool in rehabilitation settings.