In the push to digitize primary care, the Swedish health-tech giant Kry—known elsewhere as Livi—is facing a reckoning over the industrialization of the doctor-patient relationship. A recent investigation by Sweden’s national radio broadcaster, Ekot, has pulled back the curtain on a "conveyor belt" culture within the company, where efficiency metrics appear to have superseded clinical depth.
The report describes a system where physicians were encouraged to process as many as ten patients per hour. To ensure this pace, Kry reportedly implemented a bonus structure that financially rewarded doctors for speed. While digital platforms promise to alleviate the burden on traditional clinics, the findings suggest that the venture-backed drive for scale may be creating a precarious environment where medical consultations are treated as high-volume commodities.
The backlash has reached the highest levels of Swedish policy. Government investigators are now proposing a fundamental shift in how digital healthcare providers are reimbursed. By moving away from payment models that favor raw volume, regulators hope to decouple profit from the stopwatch. The challenge for Kry, and the broader telehealth sector, will be proving that "frictionless" care doesn't eventually lead to care that is spread too thin.
With reporting from Breakit.
Source · Breakit
