Health Village is an online service that has been jointly developed by experts and patients. It provides information and support to all of the parties concerned: medical care for patients and tools for healthcare professionals. Citizens and various patient groups receive understandable and reliable information about health, self-care and getting treatment for medical conditions. The service can be used 24/7 regardless of the user's physical location.
In 2018, Innofactor was honored as recipient of the 2018 Microsoft Health Innovation Awards, in the series Outstanding Innovation. The recipients were recognized for creating breakthrough solutions that empower health and life sciences organizations, while meeting global, local and industry-specific compliance and security standards.
When the Corona virus pandemic surprised Finland along with the rest of the world, HUS took swift action to ease the pressure against the health care system by developing and deploying the corona bot. It enables concerned citizens to assess their respiratory and other symptoms affiliated to COVID-19 and receive instructions how to proceed regardless of time and place. Innofactor has participated in the development of the corona bot and thanks to good partnership and collaboration, it was deployed quickly.
Health Village consists of virtual buildings dedicated to different life situations and symptoms, such as pain management, rehabilitation, mental health, and weight management. The menu also includes rare medical conditions, a women's house, and the Helsinki Biobank. The virtual buildings support self-care and the monitoring of medical care through related online services as well as self-care guides, service counseling, applications, and mobile technology.
Innofactor implemented Health Village as a cloud service based on the Microsoft Azure and SharePoint Online platforms. The development of digital services is coordinated under the Virtual Hospital project led by HUS during the period 2015–2018. Health Village services are being continuously developed and their effectiveness is being studied in cooperation with universities, research institutes, and educational institutions. The cooperation network also includes industry companies, application suppliers, and the developers of eHealth games. HUS Health Village was named as a finalist in the 2016 Microsoft Public Sector Health Award. The Health Village project also received the Reinventing Productivity recognition at Microsoft's Empowering Health event held in Brussels, Belgium, in January 2016.
"The aim of developing virtual and electronic services that are closely intertwined with patients' service paths is to design customer-focused and multi-channel services, enhance the prevention of illnesses and the efficiency of care, facilitate customers' timely access to treatment and increase the effectiveness of remote appointments. The use of eHealth services makes it possible to allocate human resources to more demanding service areas in which patient counseling and care requires a broader range of competencies."
Sirpa Arvonen
Project Director
HUS Virtual Hospital project