The Kanta medication list is an electronic, up-to-date summary of an individual’s medication and related notes.
The nationwide Kanta medication list is consistent and can be accessed through all pharmacy and patient information systems that are connected to the Prescription Centre. Individuals can view their information in MyKanta.
The Kanta medication list improves medication safety
The medication list is based on nationwide information system services that allow the consistent searching, recording, and storing of patient data. The advantage of the Medication List is that a list of an individual’s medication can be created for the Prescription Centre. The list shows all the medication being taken by the individual; each medication is listed only once, and the information is up to date.
This means that
- citizens have a better understanding of the medication prescribed to them,
- medical personnel and pharmacies have a shorter list to review and do not need to waste time searching for valid prescriptions.
- medication safety improves, as the list provides a clear picture of a patient’s current medication,
- research on the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy improves,
- it is possible to establish support systems for decision-making,
- health care professionals do not need to manually update the medication list; the list is automatically updated every time that structured medication data are recorded in the Prescription Centre.
In order to deploy the Kanta medication list in pharmacy and patient information systems, the system must have the structured dosage function enabled.
The medication list will be deployed in stages
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare published the pharmacotherapy information management concept, which was approved in September 2020. This concept contains the timeline for deploying the Kanta medication list and the content of each deployment phase.
In accordance with the Electronic Prescriptions Act, the medication list must be adopted by social welfare and health care organisations no later than 1 October 2027. The first step was to enable the deployment of structured dosage and changes to the Pharmaceutical Database in information systems. The Kanta medication list itself will be deployed next.
Structured dosage and changes to the Pharmaceutical Database
The first step in the process was enabling the following functions in information systems:
- structured dosage
- changes to the Pharmaceutical Database
Health care organisations were required to have at least one verifiably forward-compatible system in use by May 2022.
Organisations must implement structured dosage by the end of 2025. This function allows for dosage details to be recorded more quickly and safely when prescribing medicines.
The 2022 version of the Pharmaceutical Database allows the inclusion of data supporting the prescription of biological medications. The new version also includes data fields allowing for structured dosage information and a structured separate report, etc.
The distribution of the 2016 version of the Pharmaceutical Database was extended beyond 30 September 2023. This was to ensure continuing patient and medication safety for those service providers that do not yet have a system that supports the 2022 version of the Pharmaceutical Database and version 4.00 of the ePrescription specifications.
The Kanta medication list of outpatient prescriptions
The next feature to be deployed is the Kanta medication list of outpatient prescriptions. With regard to the Prescription Centre, this function will be ready for deployment at the beginning of 2026.