Pirkanmaa pilots proactive calls to chronic patients to prevent emergency visits
Pirkanmaa wellbeing services (Pirha) has launched a pilot where primary care teams proactively call long-term patients to detect deterioration early and reduce emergency visits and long hospital stays.
According to YLE, Pirkanmaa wellbeing services area (Pirha) launched a pilot in September in which primary care physicians and nurses proactively call long-term patients to spot worsening conditions early and avoid emergency visits and prolonged hospital stays.
The pilot puts the Kanta patient record archive in an active role for the first time: physicians run a Kanta search of their own patient lists and feed the results into Duodecim’s health benefit assessment tool, which highlights patients whose care balance needs attention. Pirha’s development physician and Orivesi’s responsible physician, Riku Metsälä, says only a patient’s own doctor can access these records when a valid treatment relationship exists. Information from private clinics is visible in Kanta as well.
The service began at five health centres with 20 doctors. It aims to reach about 200 patients by year-end. Simple medication adjustments can often be resolved during a remote call, while nurses arrange in-person visits for more complex issues. Tampere-based Atostek handled the technical integration, and Pirha hopes the proactive model will ease resource pressures and spread to other wellbeing areas across Finland.
The pilot builds on recent regional work linking social care records to the national Kanta service the Kanta integration and on Pirha's ongoing phone-number rollout across Pirkanmaa the 03 311 rollout.
Earlier coverage
Catch the full story over at YLE
