68 euro savings per digital first patient visit: Study shows significant cost savings and demand of digital services

Digitalisation of healthcare is often claimed to offer enhanced efficiency, improved patient experience, and significant cost savings, but so far, the studies with real patient data about the outcomes have been limited.  

A recent study conducted as part of the Aalto Executive MBA, led by leading digital services experts in Finland, has shed light on the potential of omnichannel strategies in public healthcare. Their study used data from Päijät-Sote, wellbeing services county of Päijät-Häme in Finland, which organises social and healthcare for 200,000 Finns.  

Päijät-Sote is at the forefront of the digital transformation, utilising the BeeHealthy platform’s whole product suite for providing digital services to its residents. The study, evaluating user experience and cost-effectiveness in Päijät-Sote, has revealed a strong demand for digital services among patients.

The study shows a positive attitude towards digitisation. Patients appreciate digital tools because they streamline their patient experience, allowing them to save time and effort through asynchronous services, eliminating the need for real-time queuing. Also, professionals and service providers express an increase in work efficiency and pleasantness as modern tools speed up administrative tasks, while management expresses support and encouragement for the use of digital tools.

The BeeHealthy platform is instrumental in addressing these challenges. By offering a user-friendly interface and ensuring that digital services are easily accessible, the platform enhances patient engagement and digital experience for both patients and healthcare professionals. Especially Digital Clinic, the platform’s core module used at Päijät-Sote, provides patients seamless immediate remote access to medical professionals, with data-driven symptom checker, e-prescriptions and referrals, and upgrade to video, all enhancing patient experience. The Digital Clinic module enables an efficient parallel production model for professionals, allowing them to treat patients more effectively without compromising on quality.

Teemu Mäkelä, member of the research project and CIO of the wellbeing services county Päijät-Häme, highlights that steering initial patient interactions to digital platforms can lead to significant cost reductions. In fact, directing the first patient contact to the digital channel saves an average of 68 euros per patient visit. Together with well-integrated self-triage, this can result in approximately 20-million-euro cost savings annually when fully leveraged.

According to Mäkelä, the transition to a digitally supported healthcare model requires strong leadership and collaboration among various skill sets. Cooperation between healthcare and digital development professionals should be strengthened in the organisation. Digital solutions should be designed to be as simple and flexible as possible and patients should be steered towards a digital-friendly mindset, which can make services faster and more accessible. 

The findings of the study affirm that BeeHealthy’s platform is well-positioned to help Päijät-Sote achieve the government’s target of 35% of patient contacts being digital.