BeeHealthy Unpacked: Cost-Efficiency and Immediate Access with Digital clinic
Digital tools are not just supplements to traditional healthcare – they are game-changers that meet the demands of modern healthcare, offering scalable solutions that benefit both providers and patients.
How can healthcare providers meet the growing demand for immediate, high-quality care without overwhelming their resources?
In today’s healthcare environment, efficiency, accessibility, and patient satisfaction are more crucial than ever. Digital solutions offer healthcare providers powerful tools to enhance service delivery, enable immediate access to care, streamline workflows, and significantly boost operational efficiency. Digital tools allow healthcare service providers to treat more patients in less time, reduce costs, and improve overall patient outcomes. These innovations are not just supplements to traditional healthcare – they are game-changers that meet the demands of modern healthcare, offering scalable solutions that benefit both providers and patients.
Transforming patient-provider interactions with a multi-modal solution
The Digital clinic is a core module of the BeeHealthy patient engagement platform, developed to offer a secure, efficient, and user-friendly tool to facilitate interactions between patients and care providers. Unlike traditional telehealth services, which often focus solely on video consultations, the Digital clinic offers a multi-modal approach. It supports various communication methods, including text-based messaging, audio and video calls, sharing images and attachments, and even group discussions. It serves as a robust solution that enables healthcare providers to deliver and support medical care remotely, while patients can seek help without the need to visit a physical clinic.
The Digital Clinic was originally developed by leading Nordic healthcare provider Mehiläinen for its own use, built by its healthcare professionals and in-house developers. Since then, BeeHealthy has productized, scaled, and enhanced the solution into a world-class platform now used in over 10 countries across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region.
Comprehensive admin tools for streamlining patient care
Digital tools help ensure patients receive care through the right channel at the right time. Patients with minor but urgent health concerns, such as eye infections, respiratory infections, and stomach diseases, as well as prescription renewals, can quickly connect with a medical professional on demand, wherever they are. This accessibility benefits patients with mobility issues or those in remote areas, while offering convenience to the broader population, and helping providers reach a broader patient base.
Conditions like urinary tract infection, which can make visiting a clinic uncomfortable, can be effectively handled through the platform. Medical professionals can further determine whether the patient needs an in-person visit, which in turn can easily be facilitated with referrals and online booking within the platform, or can the issue be managed remotely. This increases patient satisfaction and outcomes, while easing the burden on physical clinics, reserving the channel for those who need physical examination.
The platform equips professionals with comprehensive admin tools and user-friendly navigation for increased efficiency and productivity. Smart automations inform professionals of the next patient in the queue and sends timely notifications, helping manage their workflow efficiently. Features also include preset phrases, to reduce the need for typing and to ensure that the patient receives the most up-to-date information on e.g. laboratory opening hours and current Covid-19 testing and isolation guidelines. They also include symptom assessments, which gather relevant information of the patients matter, providing an automated anamnesis for the health care professional to better prepare for the consultation. Admin tools also offer service and queue management to manage patient flow on the platform and transfer patients from professional to service desk or to a specialist doctor, which are supported by extensive automation capabilities.
The platform also supports a range of healthcare services beyond individual consultations. It can be used for customer service interactions, non-urgent care management, and even consultations between professionals. It provides a secure, direct line of communication between the patients and their care team, ensuring continuous care. A wide range of automated features guarantees that patients are supported, even in the event of unexpected absences or high demand for the care team.
The platform can be flexibly implemented alongside existing operations to support a modern blend of digital and physical care delivery. Its seamless integration with electronic medical records (EMRs) and other systems makes it a valuable complement to current workflows. By leveraging demographic and clinical information from EMRs, the platform optimizes resource allocation and enhances continuous care relationships with patients. Additionally, its two-way integration with EMRs streamlines professional workflows, simplifying documentation and eliminating redundant or overlapping tasks, ensuring greater efficiency throughout the process.
Operational and financial value to healthcare systems
But what are the advantages the Digital clinic brings for healthcare providers?
One of the most significant gains of the tool is the efficiency it brings to healthcare operations. The platform enables healthcare professionals to manage multiple patient interactions simultaneously, which is a considerable shift from traditional in-person visits. Through a parallel production model, professionals can treat up to 10-15 patients per hour, significantly increasing their productivity.
Increased availability is driven by the parallel production model, which is the biggest innovation of the platform
For healthcare providers, this model not only improves operational efficiency but also leads to cost savings. By reducing the need for physical appointments and giving space for those who need an in-person visit, providers can allocate resources more effectively.
For example, in the case of Dutch primary care organization Gezond.nl, the implementation of the Digital clinic led to resolving 75% of patient contacts online. Their digital-first approach reduced the need for physical appointments by 40%, improving efficiency and patient satisfaction across their practices.
Mehiläinen has built a highly profitable business with the Digital clinic, achieving double-digit revenue growth, along with a steadily increasing user base, usage, and annual revenue per user. With 1.4 million discussions a year (2023) it is currently the largest unit in terms of patient volumes. This shows that Digital clinic can also be highly profitable as a stand-alone business.
The Digital clinic allows providers to explore new ways of delivering care. By offering services that are accessible 24/7, they can cater to a broader range of patient needs and improve overall patient satisfaction, while attracting new patient groups.
Digital clinic directly addresses several key challenges faced by healthcare providers today. These include:
- Inefficiencies in healthcare operations
- Elevated administrative costs
- Personnel shortages
- Low satisfaction levels
- Limited access to personalised healthcare
Learn more: BeeHealthy Platform: A Game‑Changer for Patient Experience & Profitability
Convenience at the patients’ fingertips
For patients, the Digital clinic offers convenience and immediate access to care. A remote channel allows them to seek medical help conveniently from their own devices regardless of time and location. Especially for sensitive topics, such as sexual health, it is often easier to seek help remotely rather than face-to-face.
When patients enter the virtual channel, they are guided through a symptom assessment – a tool that asks automated questions to gather essential information before a healthcare professional steps in. The automated symptom assessment not only makes sure that all the right questions are asked, but also saves time and ensures high-quality of care when the professional is well-informed about the patients matter. Patients can also renew prescriptions, receive referrals, and even attach images of their symptoms directly through the chat interface.
When the patient’s first contact occurs through a digital channel, it can reduce waiting times for in-person appointments, as necessary care instructions, prescriptions, and specialist referrals can be provided directly through the digital platform. When patients are treated in the right channel at the right time, time is reserved for those needing a physical appointment.
A compelling example comes from Päijät-Sote, a public healthcare region in Southern Finland. With the use of the digital platform, they enhanced service availability and significantly reduced patient waiting times from over 10 days to just 0.3 days for non-urgent appointments.
Learn more: Immediate healthcare access and convenience with Digital clinic
Real-world impact and future potential
A recent study from Päijät-Sote showed that by steering the first patient contact to Digital clinic, they are saving an average of 68 euros per patient visit. When fully leveraged, this approach is projected to generate annual savings of around 20 million euros. These findings highlight the significant cost-saving potential of the digital platform.
The Digital clinic represents a significant digital leap for healthcare providers, offering a scalable and efficient solution that not only complements existing services but also opens new avenues for patient care and operational excellence. By addressing critical industry pain points and delivering superior patient experiences, the platform is a game-changer for healthcare providers looking to stay ahead in an increasingly digital world.
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