Health authority partners VPs, MDs
Partnering vice-presidents with physicians will hopefully lead to a more coordinated health care system that’s easier to navigate, Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone says.
“And that’s not going to happen overnight. But that is in touch with the needs of that community and also supporting primary health care on the ground so that patients are receiving the care they need closer to home in a timely fashion.”
The SHA unveiled its senior leadership structure on Thursday. It pairs a vice-president and a physician executive together for each of four areas: rural health, urban health, northern health and provincial programs. Positions will be
filled in the coming weeks. “That model is a model that we know comes from a lot of higher performing health care systems across North America,” Livingstone said.
“And it’s really part of us being true to the health advisory panel’s report about instilling physician leadership at the very top of the organization, both on the clinical side and the non-clinical side — administering physician recruitment, and the credentialing and privileging process.”
The separation of northern, rural and urban health ensures services are aligned across the province in terms of quality and service delivery, he said.
It also means a distributed leadership team on the ground across the province.
The health authority’s official start date is scheduled for Dec. 4, the same day amalgamation legislation is proclaimed.
“There’s lots to do,” Livingstone said.
“Our major goal is to ensure as smooth a transition as possible and ensure that at the same time we’re building the new organization we’re providing high quality, safe care to residents of the province.”