The new Saskatchewan Health Authority, which will replace the 12 health regions the province currently has, is set to launch on December 4th. This is according to information obtained by Discover Weyburn from a source at the Sun Country Health Region.

The new health authority will be governed by a board of directors, which has already been put in place, and CEO Scott Livingstone. Under the CEO will be eight vice presidents, as well as a number of physician executive roles. There will also be six integrated service areas, with regional hubs, which are being designed to increase efficiencies, and reduce duplication in the health system.

The CEO will have a number of people who report directly to him. They include the executive director of communications and community engagement, who will be responsible for media relations, advising on reputation management, branding strategy, internal communications, social media, and website management.

There will be three vice-presidents with portfolios covering three regional groups, northern, rural and urban. Each will oversee primary health care, public health, emergency rooms, acute care, mental health and addiction, and spiritual care, among other duties.

A vice-president of provincial programs will be responsible for intensive care, trauma care, neonatal, various surgery departments, laboratory services, imaging, and the Healthline. There is also a vice-president of quality, safety, and strategy, who will oversee patient safety, accreditation, patient advocates, clinical education, telehealth, indigenous health and First Nations and Metis relations, as well as performance management.

The Chief Medical Officer will handle privileging and credentialing, as well as clinical standards and innovation. They will also take care of discipline and complaints, infection control, ethics, and research.

The vice-president of human resources will handle labor relations, workforce planning, physician recruitment, retention and planning, employee development, payroll and other duties. The Vice President of Finance will handle all of the financials for the health authority.

The last of the eight vice-president roles is the vice-president of infrastructure, information, and support. This role will handle environmental services, linen, food and nutrition services, real estate, transcription, and health records and registration. This portfolio will also take care of information technology and information management.

Working with the vice-presidents will be four physician leaders. Those leaders will co-lead portfolios of clinical responsibilities and will have as much responsibility and decision-making authority as the vice-president. They will also report directly to the CEO.

The clinical governance of the health authority was also developed and presented to the staff across the health regions. The governance was developed by a physician’s advisory network. The work was done looking at governance models from other jurisdictions. The governance sees the Chief Medical Officers overseeing the provincial department heads. There is also a deputy medical officer, and an executive director of practitioner staff affairs at the provincial levels, with each of the integrated service areas having a chief of staff, as well as a department lead. The two major cities, Regina and Saskatoon, will also have department heads for the city.

The clinical governance model being adopted will also see the creation of communication channels through advisory groups at the various levels fo the health authority.

The amalgamation will see a number of positions being dissolved, especially in the leadership teams of the health regions. This could see upwards of five people moving out of their current roles with the Sun Country Health Region. The new positions within the leadership team will be hired in a process beginning on Monday. Those roles in the new leadership team will be filled through open competition and appointment. It has been specified preference will be given to internal candidates in roles with regional health authorities right now.

READ MORE: New Saskatchewan Health Authority Launch Date Revealed