Table 1.

An example of a prioritization scheme

Urgent inpatient or outpatient (to be performed upon request): Inpatient or outpatient with a clinical scenario suggesting a moderate to high likelihood of short-term major adverse cardiac events, in whom the results of testing would have high likelihood of modifying management

Higher priority (deferred for 1-2 months): Inpatient or outpatient who meets AUC criteria for testing, but with a clinical scenario suggesting a low likelihood for short-term major adverse cardiac events

Lower priority (deferred for 2-4 months): Outpatient, who meets AUC criteria for testing, and who is clinically stable, expected to have normal or low-risk findings that would not be expected to effect short-term management. Some examples are pre-operative testing for elective surgery; surveillance testing such as in asymptomatic patients with prior history of PCI or CABG, a patient already on class 1C antiarrhythmic, a patient post cardiac transplant; asymptomatic patient with an elevated coronary artery calcium score

Elective (deferred for 4-6 months): Screening or wellness tests such as coronary artery calcium scans and treadmill exercise tests