In order to provide timely access to care for your patient, we are piloting a First Available Appropriate Surgeon Triage (FAAST) model. In this model, you can choose to refer your patient to a specific physician/surgeon or you can refer your patient to the FAAST. FAAST referrals will come through a central intake and will then be triaged by an MSK clinician and assigned to the first available appropriate clinician. This clinician will be an expert in musculoskeletal care – either a sports medicine physician, a orthopaedic surgeon, a physiatrist or physiotherapist working in conjunction with a physician. The choice of clinician will be based largely on the information that you provide in your referral, thus it is extremely valuable to provide a provisional diagnosis, severity of symptoms and description of treatment to date. The FAAST will institute treatment, further diagnostic tests if required or expedited referral to a surgeon if indicated.
All MSP referrals are individually triaged for acuity and if a wait for a specific physician/surgeon is expected to be greater than 5 months, we will communicate that to the referring physician and provide the option of an earlier assessment with the FAAST.