The Wellbeing services county of Western Uusimaa has actively begun implementing the Finnish government’s personal doctor model. Around five percent of the region’s residents have already had the opportunity to experience a continuous care relationship, and initial results show increased satisfaction and significantly improved access to care.
VALOR Partners has supported the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County in the design and implementation of the named Personal Doctor model. Based on analyses conducted by VALOR and experience from similar projects, the model has progressed rapidly, with preliminary results demonstrating clear improvements in both access to care and customer satisfaction.
In November 2024, the Finnish Government launched a programme to promote the adoption of personal doctor models nationwide. The primary aim of the model is to improve continuity and accessibility of care. Strong research evidence supports its benefits: when the same general practitioner treats a patient, the quality of care improves, while morbidity and mortality rates decrease. As a result, the overall need for – and cost of – healthcare services is reduced. Patient satisfaction also improves.
Western Uusimaa has taken a pioneering role in developing a model where, in the future, every resident will have their own doctor and nurse, who together are responsible for the resident’s care and its coordination.
For the first time in Finland, Western Uusimaa is advancing both the self-employed private practitioner model – where the doctor works as an entrepreneur and invoices the wellbeing services county based on agreed performance indicators – and the traditional salaried physician model, where the personal doctor is employed directly by the county.
The entrepreneurial model as a driver for primary healthcare
One of the biggest challenges in primary healthcare is the shortage of experienced general practitioners. Working conditions and incentives in the public sector have not been attractive enough, leading many doctors to move to the private sector. Yet it is precisely the clients of public primary healthcare – such as the unemployed, families with children, and senior citizens – who would benefit most from doctors’ contribution.
According to studies conducted by VALOR Partners, an entrepreneurship-based self-employed practitioner model can increase the attractiveness of primary healthcare and bring experienced general practitioners back to the public sector, where they could take responsibility for even large patient populations.
Operating as an entrepreneur provides physicians and nurses with greater freedom and autonomy. As a team, they can influence the content and scheduling of their work, while managing the workload and income more flexibly, since the size of the population they serve is one of the factors determining their compensation.
Pilot projects show encouraging results
In spring 2025, the personal doctor model was piloted at several Western Uusimaa health centres. Personal doctors and nurses have begun working in pairs, with some functioning as self-employed practitioners and others as salaried employees. Each pair was assigned a random group of residents whose care they are responsible for.
The first experiences are promising. Continuity and accessibility of care have improved significantly. Staff job satisfaction has increased, and the practitioner model has attracted strong interest among experienced doctors. Patients have also given highly positive feedback. Satisfied patients who have been able to see the same professional and receive care quickly have even brought flowers and chocolates to show their appreciation.
Western Uusimaa’s goal is that by 2030, every resident will have their own personal doctor and nurse. The county is currently leading this development in Finland, but regions such as Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia, and Pirkanmaa have also launched their own initiatives.
A Solution to Multiple Healthcare Challenges
A well-functioning personal doctor model would address many of the challenges in Finnish primary healthcare, such as the shortage of doctors, long waiting times, and cost pressures.
Scientific research shows that implementing the personal doctor model – and the resulting improvement in continuity of care – could reduce the costs of specialised healthcare by as much as ten percent. Professor Juha Auvinen from the University of Oulu has estimated that introducing the model nationwide would cost around 200 million euros.
The costs of specialised healthcare in Finland are currently about ten billion euros. A ten-percent saving would more than cover the additional expenses incurred, such as compensation for self-employed doctors and improved resourcing of primary healthcare.
New requirements for information systems
Before every resident can have their own personal doctor, several practical issues must be resolved: the organisation of work at health centres, patient information systems, recruitment, compensation models, facilities, and communication channels.
VALOR Partners has supported Western Uusimaa in this project, including solution design and decision-making preparation. A key part of the development work is adapting information systems to the personal doctor model. Together with the patient information system provider and the wellbeing services county’s data specialists, VALOR has contributed to building database solutions for the creation and management of population groups.
From a technical perspective, this is completely new territory in Finland. The entrepreneur-based model and management of population-bases require technological solutions that have never been in use before
A sustainable way to generate savings
The personal doctor model provides citizens with genuinely better service while offering a sustainable way to reduce costs. When a doctor knows their patients, appointments proceed without unnecessary repetition and, for example, fewer diagnostic tests are needed. In the long term, the model also lowers the costs of specialised healthcare.
The personal doctor model has long been in use in several European countries, with good results. In Finland, however, applying the model requires adaptation to national circumstances, meaning that solutions from elsewhere cannot be copied directly.
While analyses have identified significant opportunities, they have also highlighted risks. The named GP model previously used in Finland in the 1990s failed due to excessively large patient populations, which led to physician overload and departures from the public sector. This time, success depends on having a sufficient number of physicians and cost-effective operational governance.
From a societal perspective, this represents a major reform with the potential to reshape Finland’s healthcare structures. According to VALOR Partners’ assessment, the new entrepreneurship-based self-employed practitioner model could become a key attractiveness factor and support the large-scale success of the personal doctor model.
Lisätiedot: Jussi Ailisto ja Tuomas Nenonen, VALOR Partners Oy
Text: Catarina Stewen