Implementing Digital Care Pathways and Changes in Contact Volume, Contact Distribution, and Outpatient Costs in Specialized Health Care: Retrospective Longitudinal Observational Study

Elina Laukka   ^{1 *} , PhD ;   Paulus Torkki   ^{2, 3 *} , PhD ;   Taina Ala-Nikkola   ⁴ , PhD ;   Jussi Tikkanen   ⁴ , PhD ;   Anna Mason   ^{4, 5} , PhD ;   Taru Lehtonen   ⁴ , MSc ;   Atte Meretoja   ⁴ , MD, PhD

¹ The Wellbeing Services County of Ostrobothnia, Vaasa, Finland

² Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

³ Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland

⁴ HUS, Helsinki University Hospital and Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland

⁵ Faculty of Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

*these authors contributed equally