Healthcare chat consultations improved access but did not significantly reduce in-person visits
Healthcare chat consultations improved access to primary care but did not significantly reduce in-person visits. They did, however, reduce contacts through other services, such as phone calls, consultations, and assessments of care needs. Overall, the total number of primary care contacts increased.
The findings are based on a large randomised trial conducted in the Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County, covering a population of 170,000 residents. The research team included researchers from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Aalto University, the University of Turku, and the Government Institute for Economic Research (VATT).
"The healthcare chat had little effect on in-person visits, but shifted contacts away from other traditional channels such as phone calls," says Professor Mika Kortelainen, leader of the research group.
The introduction of the Digital Clinic increased the total number of contacts in public primary care by approximately 2.4 per cent. Other public primary care contacts - including phone calls, consultations, and care needs assessments - decreased. For every hundred chat consultations, there were approximately 37 fewer traditional contacts.
Several wellbeing services counties have adopted a digital clinic where patients can access primary care via chat in a mobile application or web browser. Remote services are expected to improve access, reduce the need to travel, and replace more expensive in-person and telephone services.
The randomised trial design produces reliable research evidence on the effectiveness of healthcare services
In the trial conducted in the Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County, 170,000 residents were divided into two equal random groups. Some residents were given access to the new chat service from the outset. After a nine-month trial period, the chat consultation was extended to the entire population.
"This trial is likely the largest randomised study in Finland examining the effectiveness of the healthcare service system," says Lauri Sääksvuori, Research Manager at THL. "We gained new information on digital health services and demonstrated that healthcare operations can be reliably evaluated using large population datasets, a randomised study design, and Finnish register data."
The study was carried out in close collaboration with the Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County as part of the SoteDataLab research project, funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM), and the GAINS research project, funded by the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland.
"The trial gave us a framework for developing our own operations. Feedback on the chat consultation has been extremely positive. I believe that the adoption of and trust in the new service channel will grow from positive experiences over time," says Suvi Einola-Mikkola, Director of Strategy and Development at the Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County.
For more information:
Mika Kortelainen
Research Professor, THL
Professor, University of Turku
[email protected]
tel. +358 50 308 2642
Lauri Sääksvuori
Research Manager, THL
[email protected]
tel. +358 50 373 9544
Suvi Einola-Mikkola
Director of Strategy and Development
Ostrobothnia Wellbeing Services County
[email protected]
tel. +358 40 563 0507