Transition to new health authority yielding benefits
The Government of Saskatchewan speaks with authority about the benefits realized through the massive transformation of the province’s health care system.
On Dec. 4, 2017, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) was launched. It’s an amalgamation of the 12 regional health authorities that had previously existed in the province. As the oneyear mark of the SHA approaches, the government said there’s a lot to celebrate.
“We expect to see cost savings between $10 million to $20 million annually, but this is really about making our health care system more responsive to the needs of patients,” Minister of Health Jim Reiter said. “We eliminated the old region boundaries, which previously got in the way of things like care home placement and hospital discharge planning. We’re also working to eliminate
ambulance response zones so that the closest available ambulance is the one that responds, regardless of who’s sending it.
“Greater integration will enable frontline care providers to serve patients better, and these are just a few examples of how we’re doing that. So far, the results are encouraging. ”
As Reiter explained, moving from 12 regions to
a single organization is a “major undertaking”, largely because it requires moving from 12 different ways of doing things to a establishing a consistent set of best practices.
“We have great people working on things like information technology, policies and processes that varied from one region to the next,” he said. “This work will lay the foundation for greater integration across the health care system and completing it will free up resources for other areas of improvement.
“I want to thank our staff and frontline care providers across the province. Their hard work and dedication is greatly appreciated. Without them, none of this would be possible.”
Reiter said the top priority of the SHA is recruiting doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, and this effort will continue with the addition of the Physician Recruitment Agency of Saskatchewan (saskdocs) to the SHA. There are now
nearly 900 more doctors in the province than in 2007. Moving forward, Reiter said there will be new opportunities to align recruitment efforts with the needs on the ground.
He said the SHA is also focusing on improving mental health services by recruiting more psychiatrists, increasing mental health supports in schools and establishing community recovery teams to better support people with persistent mental illnesses in eight communities. Police and crisis teams, which pair police officers with mental health workers to attend crisis situations, are also being established in additional communities.
The SHA has also been working hard on some important initiatives such as the Connected Care Strategy. This strategy uses a teambased approach to providing care in the most appropriate setting – whether in the hospital, a clinic, or at home in the community.
“An important part of this
is providing a seamless transition from one care setting to the next,” Reiter said.
The SHA has also established accountable care units in Saskatoon and Regina, with more on the way. Reiter said the results are extremely promising so far, with wait times reduced by as much as 30 per cent at the Pasqua Hospital in Regina. He added that community health centres are also being established in Saskatoon, Regina, and Prince Albert and will focus on patients with complex needs, providing care in the community and avoiding emergency department visits and hospital stays.
A massive undertaking such as the SHA requires the right leadership. Reiter said the government is confident that they have found the right person to lead the charge in CEO Scott Livingstone. Prior to joining the SHA, Livingstone was the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA) and he has also served
as the CEO of the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (now ehealth Saskatchewan).
“He’s a strong leader that is also open-minded,” Reiter said. “What has really impressed me is the innovative approaches he and his team come up with. For the first time, we have physician leaders as part of the senior team. The ‘dyad’ model pairs them with vice-presidents, ensuring that the decisions they make have a medical perspective built into them.”
The SHA has come a long way since the planning process began, but Reiter noted that this is still the early stages of the health care transformation.
“Significant progress has been made, but there’s more work to do,” he said. “Moving from 12 regions to a single SHA is a major undertaking. It will take a few years to fully realize our vision – a health care system that is more consistent and better coordinated across the province.”