The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is in the midst of a major consolidation of its 12 existing regional health authorities (RHAs) into a single provincial health authority. On 23 August 2017, the CEO was appointed along with the first board member of the new provincial health authority. The new provincial authority is scheduled to begin operating in late autumn 2017. Saskatchewan was the first province in Canada to regionalize its health system, a reform that was soon adopted by a majority of provincial governments. The stated purpose of the reorganization is to better coordinate the health services provided throughout the province and to reduce the cost of administration. The change had been recommended by the Saskatchewan Advisory Panel on Health System Structure established by the government in 2016 and comes after similar moves to more centralized administrative structures in Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories.