The project was conducted together with Estonian Health Insurance Fund and Philips. The goal of the pilot project was to improve patients’ quality of life and streamline the patient pathway by measuring the results and costs of stroke care and comparing them between hospitals. Four out of six Estonian hospitals treating acute stroke care participated in the measurement of results and costs.
Nordic Healthcare Group’s Vesa Komssi (Executive Vice President) and Estonian Health Insurance Fund’s Tiina Sats (Head of the Specialist Care Department) presented the pilot project at the National Value-based Seminar in May in Finland. Komssi, Sats, and Terje Peetso from North Estonia Medical Center will also present the pilot in Boston in November at the ICHOM 10-year anniversary conference!
Several interesting learnings from the pilot
The combination of centralized and local implementation was functional: EHIF coordinated the overall project on a national level and tested a new financing model, while the actual implementation was done locally. For the sake of comparability, ICHOM’s stroke metrics were used in this project. Collecting data digitally saves resources and time, so it’s worth investing in it as much as possible, keeping the patient group in mind. Komssi emphasizes also measuring the relevant impacts and relating them to the costs. Even though in this project all the relevant data was collected you can also start with the data you already have. In addition, it is emphasized how important it is to make results and metrics more visible. Data visualization also played an important role in the utilization of the results, and for that purpose a dedicated benchmarking tool was created for the project.
NHG created an effectiveness benchmarking tool for the project, which shows a larger overall picture of the situation in addition to individual patients and treatment events. Understanding the overall picture helps in making decisions in management, research, development, and patient work as well. The tool makes it possible to get an overview and drill down into more detailed information.
Interested to hear more about the project? Watch the presentation from the National Value-based Seminar in May in Finland (English and Finnish) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQGoJFHpt0
You can also read more about the pilot project and its journey on NHG’s and ICHOM’s blog: https://www.ichom.org/nordic-healthcare-group-blog/