Table 1: Operational changes that took place over the study period (June 1, 2008, to July 31, 2011)*
Operational changePeriod 1Period 2Period 3
Staffing levelsBaseline⇑⇑
Surgical target†180300270
Physician referral rate‡Baseline⇑⇔§
Internal procedures—Follow-up scheduling¶No-show policy**

*Adapted from Table 3 in Diamant et al. (2014).17
†Represents the maximum allowable number of surgeries that can be performed annually as defined by the Ontario provincial government.
‡Represents the average number of weekly referrals by primary care physicians.
§No change.
¶Scheduling began to include follow-up appointments for patients who had undergone surgery.
**Formal removal process initiated for no-show patients (i.e., patients who failed to attend 3 scheduled assessments).