Ostrobothnia Digital Clinic Experiment

Not Applicable

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Primary Care Provider

• Registration Number: NCT06904469
• Lead Sponsor: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Brief Summary

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) examines the impacts of a publicly provided digital clinic that offers digital primary care services to consumers. This intervention grants access to a public digital clinic that provides chat-based primary care consultations via a mobile phone application and website, including care needs assessment, diagnoses, follow-up care recommendations, and prescriptions. The digital clinic supplements traditional public primary care services, including in-person visits and phone consultations. The trial takes place in Ostrobothnia, Finland, a healthcare district serving a population of 178,000 residents. The investigators will randomize access to the digital clinic at the household level, providing access to 50% of the households. By doing so, the investigators aim to evaluate whether digital services can substitute for, complement, or increase the utilization of traditional primary care, particularly in-person visits or calls to traditional clinics. At the end of the nine-month trial, access to the digital clinic will be expanded to the entire population.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-03
• Study First Submitted: 2025-03-18
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-03-28
• Study First Posted: 2025-04-01
• Study Start: 2025-04-15
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-08-18
• Last Update Posted: 2025-08-20
• Primary Completion: 2026-01-14
• Study Completion: 2026-01-14

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 170306

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The number of in-person visits in public primary care (Y1.1)	From the digital clinic launch to the end of treatment at 9 months	This outcome includes in-person visits to nurses and physicians in traditional public primary care clinics.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
The number of other contacts with traditional public primary care (Y1.2)	From the digital clinic launch to the end of treatment at 9 months	This outcome includes care needs assessments, remote appointments to nurses and physicians, and professional-to-professional interactions between nurses and physicians in traditional public primary care clinics.
The number of public digital clinic contacts (D.1).	From the digital clinic launch to the end of treatment at 9 months	This outcome includes care needs assessments, remote appointments to nurses and physicians (via chat and video), and professional-to-professional interactions between nurses and physicians in digital public primary care clinics.

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia; 🇫🇮 Vaasa, Finland

Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia; 🇫🇮 Vaasa, Finland