NCT06904469

Ostrobothnia Digital Clinic Experiment

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 170,306 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare · Other Government
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

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.

Conditions

• Primary Care Provider

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Access to a digital clinic	This intervention grants access to a digital clinic that provides chat-based primary care consultations via phone application and website.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-04-15
• Primary completion: 2026-01-14
• Completion: 2026-01-14
• First posted: 2025-04-01
• Last updated: 2025-08-20

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Finland