Officials from the Yukon Hospital Corp. (YHC) and Department of Health and Social Services were in the hot seat once again Wednesday, this time before the legislature's public accounts committee.

Delving into concerns raised in the auditor general's report on YHC's capital projects, the committee asked how all three of the corporation's recent capital projects came in behind deadline and over-budget.

Liz Hanson, the committee chair and the leader of the official Opposition, said Wednesday afternoon she thought the hearing went well.

The committee, which consists of three government members and three opposition members, is meant to be non-partisan.

Hanson said it was encouraging to hear that the hospital corporation and the Health department are working to develop a more collaborative approach to health care in the territory.

Officials from the YHC said they have established a more detailed and phased-in approach to managing capital projects, which Hanson was further encouraged by, particularly as planning gets underway for the Whitehorse hospital's emergency room expansion.

"You don't turn around these big organizations quickly; it will take a phased-in approach. I think they're on the right track,” said Hanson.

"I think the committee's generally satisfied, during the course of the hearing today, that we were provided answers.

"But as I said at the end of the hearing, this doesn't necessarily mean this is the end of our interest in the work of the hospital corporation and Health and Social Services with respect to how these hospitals, the continuing implementation of them will be carried out,” she said.

"We have a continuing interest in this because it's a significant cost driver for the Government of Yukon.”

Sandy Silver, the MLA for Klondike and the interim Liberal leader, said he's happy to hear that the auditor general's office is satisfied that the hospital corporation is improving its capital project management process.

"The biggest issue here was that these capital projects were built not necessarily based on needs assessment but for political reasons. That's now been established; it's time to move on,” he said.

"That being said, it can't be understated the importance of the needs assessment,” he added.

The auditor general's report clearly stressed the importance of conducting a needs assessment.

It argued one should have been completed prior to construction, but recommended the corporation still complete assessments of the health needs in both communities to ensure the new facilities are being used in the more appropriate way.

The corporation agreed to complete needs assessments in both Dawson City and Watson Lake and confirmed Wednesday that an external consultant has been hired to complete the work.

Silver is hopeful that along with improving its management process for capital projects that the hospital corporation and the Health department of will seriously consider transitioning to a collaborative care model.

"My understanding in the community, the collaborative care model was really, really being pushed, and if you look any of the medical journals that are out there in North America, for this type of community, for this type of territory, it is the standard, it's definitely what we'resupposed to be striving for,” Silver said.

"And one of the hardest parts of that equation is to get the extended scope nurses. We had them and now we're under utilizing their amazing skills,” said Silver.

But the model of care decision is one the community should reach together, the MLA asserted, through full and proper consultation – another process he'd like to see the hospital corporation and the Health department improve.

"I would like to see a process, where consulting is a certain animal, it's done a certain way and it shouldn't vary too much from department to department,” he said.

Over the course of the hearing, committee members took turns questioning officials from the YHC and the department.

At times, they also asked the auditors to clarify aspects of their report or to further explain the importance of such things as needs assessments.

Scott Kent, the Yukon Party MLA for Riverdale North, led off the questioning. He asked what directions the government gave beyond that the two new hospitals would be built and how the direction was delivered.

The chair of the hospital board, Craig Tuton, providing one of only a few responses he would give by the end of the day, said, "I believe, if memory serves me correctly, that the direction was given verbally. I don't believe there was any other direction.”

Jason Bilsky, the CEO of the corporation, added that no direction as to the size of the hospitals was given other than that they were to be hospital facilities.

Kent asked the corporation to clarify why it didn't complete a full health needs assessment in the communities prior to planning the new hospitals.

Bilsky said the planning and assessment work focused specifically on hospital care.

However, he noted that moving forward, the corporation will complete a more extensive needs assessment in the communities in conjunction with the implementation plan for the new facilities.

Similarly, corporation officials said the community consultations were really more "discussion about needs” rather than formalized consultations because of the speed at which the projects were moving forward.

Bilsky also clarified that it was not the corporation's decision to finance the hospital construction through bank loans.

Silver queried why the government made the decision to pay $27 million down on the hospital loans in this fiscal year's budget.

Birgitte Hunter, the Health department's assistant deputy minister of corporate services, explained that the decision was made because of the "stronger financial position of the Yukon government.

"We'll continue to review it over the life of the payments to see where fiscally it makes more sense to make lump-sum payments or continue in the traditional financing mode now.

"The $27 million is going to allow us to reduce our overall interest costs over the life of the loan by about $12 million,” she said.

Regarding questions about the contracting processes used during the construction of the hospitals, Bilsky noted the YHC has since developed a new procurement and purchasing policy that is in use now.

The Watson Lake hospital was originally budgeted to cost $22 million.

The cost to complete the project is now estimated at $27.9 million, although Bilsky noted the original estimate did not include the cost of equipment or interest.

It was scheduled to open in the spring of 2012 and is now expected to begin accepting patients in August.

The Dawson hospital was estimated to cost $26.5 million, an estimate that has since risen to $31.8 million now including equipment and interest costs.

The Dawson hospital was originally scheduled to open in the fall of 2012.

It is now expected to open in the fall of 2013.