How to deploy the query and forwarding service

Start preparations for deployment by identifying which healthcare certificates or data therein your organisation needs for its service provision. Please note that certificates must be recorded by healthcare services in the Kanta Services and your organisation must be legally entitled to receive them.

At the same time, identify how you need to obtain the information on the certificate: 

• by receiving certificates forwarded by the healthcare services via the forwarding service 
• by requesting information from a specific certificate through the query service. 

This need determines whether your organisation will deploy the query service, the forwarding service or both. 

Check THL’s and Kela’s instructions:

If the certificate your organisation needs cannot yet be stored in Kanta, please agree on a process for specifying data content with THL. For more information, please email sotetiedonhallinta@thl.fi.

Submit a report to THL

Once you have identified your organisation’s needs and the basis for deploying the service, please inform THL of the following: 

• what healthcare certificates or information therein will be forwarded to your organisation
• the law on which the forwarding is based 
• whether you are deploying the query service, the forwarding service, or both. 

Please submit the report via email to sotetiedonhallinta@thl.fi.

If necessary, THL will arrange a meeting to go over the matters described in the report. 

The organisations using the query and forwarding service are organisations outside the healthcare sector. As a result, their systems are not subject to the same certification requirements as those of social welfare and healthcare operators.

However, your system needs to be approved by Kela and THL in order to use the query and forwarding service.

Your information system provider will develop the system in parallel with other preparations for deployment.

In order to enable the required connections to the Kanta Services, your organisation must first join the Suomi.fi Data Exchange Layer provided by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV).

The organisation can then connect to the Kanta Services client test service, which is provided in the Kanta client test environment. The application to join as a user of the service is usually submitted by the information system provider. If you have a test environment, you can also join the Kanta Service’s client test service yourself, if necessary. 

For more information on the client test environment, please email kanta@kanta.fi and consult the client test service’s instructions for joining the service. 

Once the connections are enabled, the information system provider will continue with system development to make it compatible with the Kanta Services.

Please send the following information to koodistopalvelu@thl.fi: 

• the official name of the organisation 
• the organisation’s business ID
• whether the organisation will use the query service, the forwarding service or both
• the date from which the service is planned to be deployed
• The names in Finnish and Swedish of the data content to be transmitted via the query and forwarding service, and any abbreviations (e.g. Medical report on the need for special maternity leave SV 97). 

THL will add the information tothe Messaging – Message recipient code set in the National Code Service (koodistopalvelu.kanta.fi, in Finnish).

To be able to use Kanta Services, an organisation must have an up-to-date and documented data security plan. THL has issued a regulation on the reports and requirements to be included in the data security plan (pdf, thl.fi, in Finnish). It is binding on social welfare and healthcare service providers and also serves as a guideline for organisations outside the healthcare sector.

You can use the data security plan template to help you develop a data security plan or to supplement your organisation’s existing data security plan for the deployment of the Kanta Services. 

Please email the data security plan to THL at sotetiedonhallinta@thl.fi. THL can also provide you with more information on the content of the data security plan.

Before you start using the service, make sure that your organisation’s staff have the necessary skills to use the information system. To this end, it is a good idea to designate the main users of the future system and make a plan to ensure their competence. 

Agree on organisational policies internally and together with the information system provider. Examples of policies to be agreed upon include system access rights and access management. Through shared practices, you can ensure that data is processed securely within your organisation.

The meeting will examine whether the necessary preparations for deployment have been made. At this stage, the information system used by your organisation must also be approved. 

Representatives of your organisation, Kela and THL will attend the meeting to approve the conditions of joining. The information system provider may also participate in the meeting, if necessary. A Kela representative will take notes of the meeting and send them to all participants.

To arrange a meeting, send an email to kanta@kanta.fi.

Once the conditions for joining have been approved, Kela will send you an email with 

• the service description and an approval form for the query and forwarding service
• the general terms of delivery of the Kanta Services
• a commitment to become a client of the Kanta Services
• a list of the necessary technical information and roles, and contact persons.

After this, submit an application to become a user of the service by sending the following documents to kanta@kanta.fi:

• your signed commitment to become a client of the Kanta Services
• a signed service description approval form 
• your organisation’s technical information and contact details.

Kela will notify you via email once your application has been approved.