Patient waiting times dropped from 10+ days to near zero after digital service implementation in Harjun Terveys

Harjun Terveys, a Joint Venture Company established by Mehiläinen and the Päijät Häme region in Finland, took the BeeHealthy platform in use at the beginning of 2021. After the deployment of the platform, service availability has risen to an outstanding level with patient waiting times dropping from 10+ days to near zero.  

Harjun Terveys is responsible for public primary health care services (outpatient care, dental care) for the 130 000 residents of Päijät-Häme. Harjun Terveys’ key target is to provide the residents excellent quality and well available public primary care services in a cost-effective way. This is sought through new ways of arranging and producing services. 

‘’We provide the services based on a fixed capitation fee, which means that our aim is to have an outstanding level of availability and to produce the services in a cost-efficient manner, rather than a fee for service model to optimise the number of visits’’ says Joonas Turunen, CEO of start-up phase of Harjun Terveys.

Excellent service availability with digital services

Harjun Terveys’ primary health care services operate on a queue-free operating model, where the patients care starts from the first point of contact and when necessary, with a physical appointment, that is offered on the same or next day. All residents in the Päijät Häme region also have access to care through Digital Clinic, through which they can seek medical help remotely. 

‘’Digital services have enabled the resident’s new ways of accessing health services. The 24/7 access to Digital Clinic is easy and patients can use the services from the comfort of their own homes’’ Turunen adds. 

Digital services also have increased doctor efficiency significantly, meaning that doctors can treat multiple patients simultaneously and faster, without compromising on quality. Digital Clinic has moved a significant share of service demand from the brick and mortar to the digital channel.

Meeting patient service needs with multi-specialty care teams

In addition to digital services, Harjun Terveys operates in a multi-specialty care team model, meaning that professionals from different disciplines, such as doctors, nurses, dental hygienists, psychiatric nurses, physiotherapists, and social care workers, work as a team. Addressing the patients’ service needs begins immediately at first contact, without unnecessary queueing to access services. In the care team model, the service demand is always met during the same day with a major share of the service capacity being booked proactively by the care team. 

Since having the BeeHealthy digital platform up and running, I dare to say that we have the best public digital healthcare services in the country’’ rejoices Turunen.

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