Digital Consultations Drive 23% Cost Savings and Deliver High-Quality Care in Finnish Primary Healthcare

Harjun Terveys, a joint venture between Mehiläinen and the Wellbeing Services County of Päijät-Häme in Finland, has been using BeeHealthy’s digital patient engagement platform since 2021 to deliver accessible, high-quality digital primary healthcare services. 

Recent research by Harjun Terveys and Mehiläinen shows that digital consultations are not only clinically effective but can also reduce public primary healthcare costs by up to 23% compared to traditional phone or urgent care services. 

Key findings from digital consultations: 

• Significant cost savings: Treatment episodes initiated through BeeHealthy’s digital platform were approximately 23% less expensive than those initiated by phone calls or urgent in-person visits. 

• Efficient care with fewer follow-ups: Patients treated digitally for common illnesses did not require more follow-up appointments compared to traditional consultations, demonstrating that health concerns were effectively resolved. 

• Reduced need for diagnostic tests: Digital consultations led to fewer laboratory and imaging referrals compared to traditional care pathways, challenging the assumption that remote care would drive higher diagnostic demand. 

The research analysed more than a year of patient data collected between May 2023 and September 2024, and focused on five common acute conditions that typically drive high volumes of primary care visits.  

According to, Alexandra Dahlberg, M.D. and M.Sc., Research Physician at Harjun Terveys, the results demonstrate that acute illnesses can be effectively managed remotely: 

– The research focused on respiratory and urinary tract infections, eye symptoms, acute vomiting and diarrhoea diseases, and skin symptoms. These unfortunately familiar diseases account for over half of digital consultation contacts and a quarter of primary healthcare contacts. The research found that acute diseases can be well managed remotely. 

The research highlights that digital consultations helped streamline patient care pathways, leading to fewer diagnostic referrals and a reduction in unnecessary follow-up visits. This suggests that digital-first care models can help balance clinical workloads while maintaining strong patient outcomes. 

Director of Primary Healthcare Services at Mehiläinen, Petja Orre, M.D. and Specialist in Public Health Medicine, who led the research, adds: 

– Patients benefit from quick access to care, and digital consultations also benefit wellbeing services counties as they use fewer healthcare resources overall than traditional consultations. This, in turn, enables better availability and accessibility of care for all patients. 

The research also found that digital consultations resulted in fewer laboratory and imaging referrals compared to traditional urgent care visits, suggesting that remote-first pathways may also contribute to more sustainable diagnostic practices. 

Enabling better access and sustainable healthcare 

As healthcare systems globally face increasing pressure, digital consultations provide a proven solution for improving service availability and controlling rising costs. 

The experiences from Harjun Terveys underline how digital-first primary care can support both patients and healthcare organisations by improving access, optimising clinical workflows, and ensuring high-quality outcomes. 

Information about the research 

Research data covered over 600,000 patient contacts, from which nearly 40,000 matched treatment episodes were formed. The research compared the use of professional resources and laboratory and imaging services during a two-week treatment episode and their associated costs. 

The research was conducted as part of Alexandra Dahlberg’s, M.D. and M.Sc., master’s thesis at Hanken School of Economics, and the article has been submitted for peer review. The article is published as a preprint version on MedRvix service [https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.04.25324363]