Praktikertjänst - Sweden's largest healthcare group digitalises its healthcare centres to improve efficiency and accessibility

Praktikertjänst is one of Sweden's largest healthcare groups, with approximately 80 primary care centres around the country. So how do you utilise the strength of local presence while meeting the patient's expectation of healthcare one click away? Is it possible to combine efficiency gains and accessibility through digital channels with the continuity that physical healthcare offers?

 

Praktikertjänst has been implementing Doctrin's platform since August 2018, and the plan is to have the system running at 30 healthcare centres by the summer of 2019. The initial results are good, with satisfied patients and healthcare providers.

 

• The patients are very positive and rated the digital service 3.52 out of 4
• Healthcare providers are positive about the platform and 75% would recommend it to their colleagues
• Praktikertjänst has just passed 15,000 digital contacts on the platform (July 2019), and the encounter volumes are constantly increasing

 

High quality healthcare with increased efficiency

Praktikertjänst began its digitalisation journey by implementing Doctrin's digital platform in its existing primary care centres. It is not uncommon for healthcare centres to be so overloaded that they cannot accept more registered patients. The focus of their digitalisation efforts has therefore been to offer patients good healthcare, but in a more efficient manner that requires less resources, supports healthcare staff, reduces stress levels and improves the working environment.

Patients are more involved in their own care

A typical patient begins their encounter digitally, when the patient selects one of over 250 reasons for contacting their healthcare centre. Where the case can also be completed digitally, this is done, while in cases which require a physical examination it is easy to book an appointment for the patient directly. The same doctor who has handled the digital case may carry out the physical examination, or the patient can be booked in with the doctor with whom they are registered in order to maintain continuity of care.

Increased accessibility

All healthcare professions work in the platform in Praktikertjänst's primary care centres, with a variety of encounter types. The goal is to ensure that patients are able to use Praktikertjänst24 as their primary channel into the healthcare centre, regardless of the reason for contact. The healthcare centre can tailour the digitalisation to their practice's specific needs, where the platform setup, the reasons for contact, professions involved and ways of work can be tailoured to the specific unit's capabilities and needs.