The Yukon government will unveil a report next week that will help shape the transformation of the territory's health care system.

The report was prepared by Dr. David Peachey and William Croson, a statistician.

It compiles health and population data and offers a flexible process management tool that will be used to guide the transition from the current acute care model to a more collaborative, patient-centred model.

"Health and Social Services systems across Canada are very much in a state of pressure and flux,” Paddy Meade told a news briefing on the report Thursday morning. Meade is the deputy minister of Health and Social Services.

"The real issue for us is to get out ahead of the change, make good strategic long-term decisions to manage that change, and our goals are to ensure that we have high-quality, appropriate access throughout the territory and sustainability,” she said.

Dr. Peachey explained that in the report, he suggests system changes should first be implemented in the communities, transitioning to a system of regional health hubs.

Eventually, the system will evolve in Whitehorse as well.

Based on the need of the population served by each hub, a new team-based model of care with more diversified health care professionals will develop.

It will make use of nurse practitioners, mental health workers, alcohol and drug workers, and other social services, all working together and sharing both problems and solutions.

The health workers based in each hub will likely be a combination of resident workers, part-time workers who split time between that location and another, and more use of telehealth services.

As Peachey described it, the process management tool will help balance the health needs of an area with the types and numbers of health care providers servicing it.

The key moving forward, he emphasized, is making decisions based on evidence.

"It really means starting to do things differently, and we're going to look at every position and service that we deliver,” said Meade.

"We have to use greater technology, we have been very limited currently in the use of telehealth and other technologies and we have to also ensure that people are working to their full scope and that we're considering other providers as part of the team,” she said.

She offered a recent example where a surgical consultation was done via telehealth, meaning the patient could remain in their home community.

Moving forward, the department will use the report to develop an implementation plan, although Meade explained that some changes will take place before the implementation plan is complete.

"When you're doing transformational system change, it's a long journey,” said Meade.

It will also require a cultural shift within the department as officials have previously be trained to work in silos and those now need to be broken down, Meade added.

The estimated 300-page report is expected to be released on Monday.