All social welfare and health care information systems are to be brought together into a national online client information system.
The online client information system will enable service users to manage their own information in the system to a greater extent and to receive services that are of better quality and more flexible.
The social welfare and health care online client information system will allow:
- efficient management of client data,
- ensuring that client data are up to date and available at all service points,
- improved information security for client data, and
- electronic archiving.
Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Social and Health Care 159/2007 (Finlex) (in Finnish)
Act on Electronic Prescriptions 61/2007 (Finlex) (in Finnish)
National Archive of Health Information serves all Finns
The National Archive of Health Information (KanTa) is intended
to serve not only health care professionals but all users of health
care services. Services enabled by KanTa include:
- electronic prescriptions,
- an archive of patient records, and
- a function for viewing one's own health information online.
National Archive of Health Information (KanTa)
Electronic prescriptions facilitate the prescribing and delivery of medicines
An electronic prescription (ePrescription) is a prescription
that a physician writes up and signs electronically and enters in
the national Prescription Centre.
Entries on prescriptions filled by pharmacies are also stored in
the Prescription Centre. The Centre thus constitutes a database of
all the information related to the prescribing and delivery of
medicinal products.
Data in the Prescription Centre are accessible by physicians,
dentists, pharmacists and students in these fields, and also by
health care professionals assigned to handling requests for
renewing prescriptions at health care service units who have been
issued with what is known as a professional card.
The ePrescription service was launched in Turku in 2010.
Pharmacies using the ePrescription system
(kanta.fi)
Health care service units using the
ePrescription system (kanta.fi)
Patient information collected in a national archive
The eArchive system is a national, secure and consistent electronic archive of patient health records. Using the eArchive system, health care professionals treating a patient anywhere in the country can have access to all previous information about the patient, with the patient's consent.
A patient is entitled to forbid the disclosure of his patient records from one health care unit to another. Such a ban may apply to data from specific units or data on specific service events (visits).
The eArchive system was launched in Kuopio in 2011.
Accessing personal health information online
For health care service clients, the system reform will above all bring added transparency to health care, as clients will be able to inspect their prescriptions and patient records online.
The quality of treatment will also improve as health care professionals gain access to up-to-date information on their clients.
Using a viewing link (eView), clients may see for instance a summary of his/her electronic prescriptions or a list of health care organisations to which his/her patient records have been disclosed.
Users may already view their own data at the Prescription Centre and in the eArchive system. Data are available from those health care units that are using the services in question.
National Project for IT in Social Services (Tikesos)
The purpose of the National Project for IT in Social Services (Tikesos), which ran from 2005 to 2011, was to improve IT for the use of social welfare professionals and to make online social welfare services available to clients. Achieving this requires integration of the contents and structures of electronic documents and of document management.
Development of information management and IT in social services is being continued by the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
National Project for IT in Social Services (Tikesos) (in Finnish)
eServices and Democracy Acceleration Programme (SADe)
In 2009, the Ministry of Finance launched the eServices and Democracy Acceleration Programme (SADe). The social welfare and health care service entity under the SADe Programme is managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
Social welfare and health care service
entity (National Institute for Health and Welfare) (in Finnish)
eServices and Democracy Acceleration
Programme (SADe) (Ministry of Finance) (in Finnish)
The preparation and implementation of the social welfare and
health care service entity is being steered by a cluster group.
Advisory Board for Electronic Information Management in Social and Health Care
The development of national information system services is steered by the Advisory Board for Electronic Information Management in Social and Health Care.
Advisory Board for Electronic Information Management in Social and Health Care (in Finnish)
Further information:
Annakaisa Iivari, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 9 160 74443, firstname.lastname@stm.fi
Anne Kallio, Head of Development, tel. +358 9 160 73139, firstname.lastname@stm.fi
