26.02.2018 12:00 CEST/EET (UTC +2)
Press Release
Innofactor has concluded a collaboration agreement with the municipal association called the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), with the intention of expanding the Health Village concept to the other Nordic countries. The technological platform for the extremely popular digital service for specialised healthcare which began at HUS will thus become available throughout the Nordic region, with exclusive rights via Innofactor. Innofactor has been HUS’s principal partner in developing the technological platform for Health Village from the very start.
Terveyskyla.fi is a rapidly growing digital service in the field of specialised healthcare, which was started at HUS and is currently in use all over Finland through the national project entitled “Virtual Hospital 2.0”. Use of the service has doubled over the past year, and Health Village is already recording more than 250,000 visits per month. The service offers planned for the different patient groups are referred to as “houses”. Of the 20 such houses that have been opened thus far, the Psychiatry House and the Healthy Weight House have proved particularly popular and are already demonstrating positive care effects. The secret behind the popularity of the services is that different patient groups and professionals from the healthcare sector have participated in the design of the system to an exceptional extent, starting from the earliest planning phases. More than 1,250 trained professionals from specialist areas of healthcare, and more than 1,500 patients have participated voluntarily, actively and enthusiastically in planning Health Village services.
Since 2015, Innofactor has served as HUS’s principal partner in developing the technological platform for Health Village. At the end of 2017, the partnership reached a significant milestone when the solution for the modular digital care plan was made available to patients. The technological platform behind Health Village was declared ready at that point – even though more development work will naturally be performed in the future.
"We’re convinced that the Health Village concept will also work outside Finland. We know the Health Village platform inside out, and over the years we have devoted a workforce of more than 100 people to developing and maintaining it. As the leading supplier of Microsoft cloud solutions in the Nordic region, we have the capacity and the skill to introduce the technological platform behind Health Village quickly and cost-efficiently in all Nordic countries. Thanks to the modern cloud-based architecture, the solution can even be scaled up to national level, in the same way as in Finland. We’ve undertaken a commitment to spread the Health Village concept all over the Nordic region, and I can promise full support to all our customers in the Nordic countries,” says Sami Ensio, CEO and founder of Innofactor.
"Health Village has proved to be an efficient way of delivering services in the field of specialist healthcare more easily and more comprehensively to different patient groups. Our healthcare staff and our patients are happy to use Health Village, and consider it to offer significant improvements. Our financial director is also highly satisfied with Health Village, as it appreciably streamlines time consumption, freeing up more time for interaction with the patients. Innofactor has been an excellent partner for us in the work to develop the technological platform for Health Village, and we are convinced that the company will also provide peerless support in the project to expand the Health Village platform outside Finland. The agreement also allows HUS’s skilled healthcare staff to supply services to completely new customer groups in the Nordic region,” says Visa Honkanen, Development Director at HUS.
"I’ve been working with digital services in the healthcare sector for 15 years, both in Finland and abroad, but I have never come across any kind of innovation that equals Health Village’s digital care plans. Applying digitalisation makes it possible to present care plans for chronic illnesses directly to the patients themselves, and to raise interaction between patient and healthcare professional to a completely new level. I think it’s essential to give patients a genuine opportunity to take more responsibility for their own care, and to allow staff to expand their role towards that of a coach who motivates the patient. This is a clear trend in all western countries, so it’s only natural to make Health Village available outside Finland’s borders,” adds Hannu Laesvuori, Director, Healthcare and Welfare at Innofactor.
For additional information about the solution, contact:
Sami Ensio, CEO of Innofactor
sami.ensio@innofactor.com, +358 50 584 2029
Visa Honkanen, Development Director, HUS
visa.honkanen@hus.fi +358 50 427 5023
Innofactor
Innofactor is a leading Nordic provider of digitalization and cloud solutions. Innofactor has Microsoft Ecosystem’s leading expertise and the most comprehensive offering in the Nordics. Innofactor has over 600 eager and motivated top professionals in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Innofactor serves over 1,500 commercial, public, and third sector organizations. In 2012 to 2016, the annual growth of Innofactor’s net sales has been approximately 28%. The Innofactor Plc share is listed in the technology section of the main list of NASDAQ Helsinki Ltd. www.innofactor.com
The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) is a municipal association established by 24 local authorities. The association is tasked with delivering the specialist healthcare that the member municipalities and their citizens need. HUCS University Hospital forms part of the HUS association and is also responsible, within a special catchment area that extends beyond the borders of the district itself, for treating patients with rare illnesses and patients who require intensive care. HUCS even holds nationwide responsibility for certain illnesses. The HUCS special catchment area comprises the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), the South Karelia Social and Health Care District (Eksote), Kymenlaakso Social and Health Services (Carea), and the municipal welfare association of Päijät-Häme. www.hus.fi/en