The Kanta Services are part of an EU-wide network to improve the continuity and safety of patient care. The network gives healthcare professionals access to a patient’s medical records, regardless of which EU country the patient has previously received treatment in.
The Kanta Services are Finland’s contact point for the secure and digital flow of information between the healthcare systems of Finland and other European countries. Finns are already able to transfer their prescription and patient data to other parts of Europe.
Cross-border prescription
With cross-border prescriptions, Finns can buy medicines from pharmacies in other EU countries. In turn, citizens of these countries can buy medicines from Finnish pharmacies. Cross-border prescriptions are currently available in six European countries. In Finland, they are used in all pharmacy systems, i.e. cross-border prescriptions can be used in any pharmacy.
Patient summary
A Patient Summary provides healthcare professionals with a centralised compilation of data recorded about the patient in another EU country. This increases the continuity of care and patient safety. In Finnish healthcare, the summary can be deployed from 2025 onwards.
The Patient Summary must be deployed in the Finnish healthcare system within the next few years. However, it is worth deploying as soon as possible, as it will make it easier to treat patients who have moved to Finland or are visiting Finland from other European countries.
New functions introduced with the European Health Data Space
The European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation will gradually enable the transfer of other health data between EU countries. In the future, it will be possible to use Kanta to transfer
- laboratory results and reports, estimated in 2029
- medical images and associated reports, by 2031 at the latest
- patient discharge reports, by 2031 at the latest.
