When an employee falls ill, what matters most to them is finding out quickly what to do. What matters most to the employer is that the person gets help and everyday work carries on. In this post I explain what fast access to a doctor means for a team, how Treat sits alongside occupational healthcare and why employers never see an individual employee's health data.
Uncertainty costs more than the illness
A cold, back pain or a child's ear infection are rarely a big deal from the employer's point of view. The big deal is the day spent working things out: do I need to see a doctor, where do I get an appointment, do I need a certificate and when can I come back?
During that day the employee is often at work but not fit for it, or away but unsure whether the absence is needed. Both are bad options, for the person and for the team.
Fast access to a doctor removes that uncertainty. The employee describes their situation in the chat, and a licensed doctor reviews it during service hours, usually within minutes. The doctor gives advice, writes a prescription and a sick leave certificate when appropriate, or directs them to follow-up care. The person knows straight away what happens next.
What the numbers say
We have measured the service up to the end of August 2026. Response time was measured during service hours, every day from 08:00 to 20:00.
- The average wait for a doctor has been 2 minutes 14 seconds.
- 62% of cases have needed no further appointment.
- 100% of clinical decisions have been made by licensed doctors.
For a team, this means most everyday complaints are handled without an appointment that breaks up the working day, and those that do need a visit are directed there with a doctor's assessment.
Treat alongside occupational healthcare, not instead of it
Treat does not replace statutory occupational healthcare, which in Finland every employer must arrange. Occupational healthcare is responsible for, among other things, monitoring work ability, health checks and prevention related to workplace conditions. None of that is done in a chat.
Treat is the first step. When an employee has an acute complaint, they get a doctor's assessment quickly and without booking. If the matter belongs to occupational healthcare or other follow-up care, the doctor directs them there. The doctor's notes appear in Omakanta, Finland's national patient portal, and prescriptions go to the national Prescription Centre, so the information travels with the employee to wherever they go next.
In practice, Treat suits a company with a comprehensive occupational healthcare agreement just as well as a company whose occupational healthcare is at the statutory minimum and where medical care is left for employees to arrange themselves.
What it costs
A doctor's consultation costs 72 euros. An employer can cover it for their employees, or it may be covered by insurance. The price includes the doctor's review and, when clinically appropriate, a prescription or renewal and a sick leave certificate. Medicines, tests, appointments and other follow-up care are not included.
Employers never see an individual employee's health data
For us this is a matter of principle, not just a legal requirement.
The patient record for every case is the responsibility of the licensed doctor who made the assessment. The doctor acts as an independent healthcare provider and is the controller of the patient record. Treat Health Oy processes patient data on the doctor's behalf. The employer is nowhere in that chain.
Employers receive only aggregated, anonymised reporting: volumes, timings and case categories. Small groups are suppressed from the reports so that no individual can be inferred, even indirectly. The employer does not see who used the service, for what reason or what the doctor decided.
Data is processed in Google Cloud data centres in Finland, and personal data stays within the EEA. Employees sign in with strong electronic identification using Finnish bank credentials or Mobiilivarmenne, the mobile certificate issued by Finnish operators, and Treat never receives the bank credentials themselves. You can read more about data protection at https://treat.health/privacy/.
What this means for the team
The value of fast access to a doctor is not that people are less ill. It is that falling ill does not turn into a day of working things out. The employee gets a doctor's assessment, knows what to do and can focus on recovering or on work, whichever is right.
Treat is not an emergency service. In an emergency, always call 112.
If you'd like to hear how Treat would fit your team, we'd be glad to tell you more.