The Kanta Services are a national digital service entity for social welfare and health care, and they are also linked to international information systems. The Kanta Services will expand and become more versatile as citizens’ needs change and new laws enter into force. As Kanta operates in an ever-changing environment, development priorities will be reviewed as necessary during the year. The development of the Kanta Services is guided and funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
The purpose of the development and deployment of Kanta is to meet citizens’ social welfare and healthcare needs and to respond to changes in the operating environment. Kanta Services’ data content is also utilised in secondary use and knowledge management.
Development of services
The development of the Kanta Services means promoting the digitalisation and improved data management of the services used by the social welfare and health care sector.
Kanta Roadmap
Future development measures of Kanta Services have been compiled in the Kanta Roadmap. The roadmap will be updated for purposes such as legislation, technical capabilities, and development needs of the service system.
Publication schedule
The Kanta Services publication schedule outlines the development phases for major areas for development and a more detailed scheduling of new functionalities. The publication schedule includes the schedule for development phases for functionalities in the Kanta Services as well as the deployment deadlines for social welfare and health care providers. Social welfare and health care providers can use these schedules to plan their own roadmap for data management.
Priorities for development in 2024
Kanta Services support health and social services organisations and citizens
Sharing of wellbeing data with professionals
The Client Data Act enables the disclosure of wellbeing data stored by citizens in the Kanta PHR to social welfare and health care professionals. The sharing of data requires the citizen’s consent. The benefits of data sharing include
- improved access to the use of wellbeing data in client care
- support for the client in promoting their own wellbeing and engaging with their own care
- support for the development of health care and social welfare operating models
- enables the development of social welfare and health care service processes and cost savings.
In order for a social welfare or health care professional to be able to utilise the wellbeing data stored by a citizen in Kanta PHR, the professional must have
- A professional application implemented for the utilisation of well-being data stored in Kanta PHR and connected to the Kanta PHR
- an ongoing care or professional relationship with the citizen.
Development of the Patient Data Repository
In 2024, the development of the service will focus on, among other things, changes to the Client Data Act and the importing of appointment information to the Kanta Services. New features also include the possibility to share patient data with wellbeing applications.
Development of the Client Data Repository for Social Welfare Services
In 2024, the development of the service will focus on finalising functionalities in accordance with the obligation to join Kanta as stipulated in the Client Data Act.
Data sharing between social welfare and health care sectors
The Client Data Act enables the sharing of data between social welfare and health care sectors. The transition period stipulated in the Client Data Act prescribes that the feature must be in production in the Kanta Services and client organisations by no later than 1 January 2026. The sharing of data is based on the client's consent to data sharing. Data sharing makes it easier to form an overall picture of the client's situation.
Development of MyKanta
The user interface development of the Kanta PHR, which has already begun, will continue in stages during 2024. The Health Data section and new prohibitions in accordance with the Client Data Act are next to be implemented in the new user interface, and prescription functionalities will be improved based on user feedback.
With the renewal of MyKanta, the service can be better integrated into the wellbeing services counties' own e-services. For example, a user can be directed from the area's e-service to renew their prescription in MyKanta using a single login to Suomi.fi. In this way, the user would have as seamless and smooth a service path as possible in regional and national digital services. The best cost-effectiveness can be achieved in health care and social welfare when Kanta and regional digital services complement one other.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has decided on the implementation of the MyKanta mobile application in 2024. Users of MyKanta have requested development of the application to make mobile use more practical: identification would be fast and secure, and the application could, for example, remind the user to renew a prescription. The mobile application would make things easier for frequent users of MyKanta in particular. The first version of the application is estimated to be released in early 2025.
Development of the Delivery of Medical Certificates
With the help of the Delivery of Medical Certificates, certificates and statements prepared in health care and stored in Kanta can also be quickly and safely transmitted electronically outside health care. The documents can be delivered at the request of the client.
When certificates and statements are transmitted electronically, only the necessary information is transferred to the recipient. Clients benefit from the faster service as the information can be transferred from Kanta instantly at the touch of a button. Using the service is eco-friendly and generates savings.
The use of the service will expand in the near future, as new recipients will be added to it in addition to Kela and Traficom. In such cases, in addition to a request, the transfer of data may also be accepted based on a legal request or the legal obligation of the data provider to provide information.
Patient data summary of a foreign person in Finland
A patient data summary is a summary of a patient's medical history intended for health care professionals. The summary will be used to help plan patient care, improve patient safety, and promote the continuity of care within the EU. The summary provides information on the patient's health risks, medication, permanent diagnoses and procedures performed on the patient.
The display of patient data summaries is likely to become mandatory as a result of the EHDS Regulation (europa.eu). During 2024, an interface will be implemented in the Kanta services with which the patient information system or portal displaying the patient data summary can retrieve a document that complies with the eHDSI specifications.
Modernisation of the Kanta Services: the transition from document-based to information model-based services (HL7 FHIR)
The Kanta services will be harmonised and modernised by moving from document structures to an information model-based structure. The HL7 FHIR standard makes the development of national data content more agile in systems connected to Kanta and within the Kanta Services. This makes data easier to use, more consistent and in line with the latest international standards.
Kanta's long-term goal is for all Kanta technical interfaces to be based on the HL7 FHIR standard. The transition will be implemented in stages, and the new data contents currently under construction in 2024 (booking health care appointments, notifications of social welfare disclosures and the disclosure of wellbeing data stored by the user in MyKanta to health care and social welfare services professionals) will be made in accordance with the FHIR standard.
Improving the quality and secondary use of data
The Kanta data platform is a centralised source for the secondary use of health care and social welfare services data – data from the registers of several health care and social welfare services providers can be made available in a single place for research purposes. The development of the data platform will continue in 2024. When the data is produced through the Kanta Services, the health care and social welfare services professional will not need to separately produce data for statistical or monitoring purposes, for example. The data is also available for the guidance and management of health care and social welfare services based on effectiveness. The quality of information is improved at different stages of the information life cycle through cooperation between all actors.
The data is recorded by a health professional in health care and social welfare services and transferred to the Kanta Services, and from there onwards, for example, to THL's monitoring and quality registers. As the Kanta Services and their use expand in social welfare and health care, the amount of data content for secondary use is also increasing.
Development of Kanta medication information management
The Kanta medication list provides a single clear view of the citizen's medication information for the citizen themselves and for the parties participating in the treatment, and there is no longer any need to search for medication information from different sources. Citizens' medication safety will improve with the decreased use of overlapping medicines. Professionals’ work becomes more efficient with a single registration, and the structure of the entries promotes the utilisation of data.
Social welfare and health care organisations, pharmacies, and system suppliers, as well as medicine users, were also involved in the development of the medication list. The development work will continue in 2024.
Deployment of the services
Kela supports and guides health care and social welfare organisations in the deployment of the Kanta Services. Health and social services organisations that have registered for deployment will receive support and guidance, for example, in deployment training sessions and in events and training organised by the Kanta Services. In addition, Kanta Services offers free online schools aimed at health care and social welfare services professionals and students in the field.
Deployment priorities in health care in 2024
- Implementation of changes required by the Client Data Act
- Supporting social welfare service providers in the deployment of a client information system that fulfils the statutory obligation to join
- Functionalities of the client data system of the Client Data Repository for Social Welfare Services that fulfils the obligation to join stipulated by the Client Data Act
- Exchange of private and public sector information in outsourced service situations using the Kanta Services
- Kanta medication list phase 1
- Kanta Services deployment in the private sector
- Summaries of key health data (Level up 2016)