Prachand et al proposed a scoring system for Medically Necessary, Time-Sensitive (MeNTS) procedures that would aid decision making when manage scarce resources or increased risk. This consists of 3 subscores - procedure, disease and patient. The authors are from the University of Chicago.
Patient selection: candidate for non-emergency, medically-necessary, time-sensitive procedure
Subscores:
(1) procedure, from 7 to 35
(2) disease, from 6 to 30
(3) patient, from 8 to 40
total score =
= SUM(points for all 3 subscores)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 21
• maximum score: 105
• The higher the score, the greater the issues with performing the procedure.
• Based on the institution then different cutoffs can be used to define 3 categories - appropriate to perform, perform based on resources, and procedure not justified.
• Alternatively, all pending cases can be sorted based on the total MeNTS score, then scheduled.
