Online health care services are popular in the Nordic countries – MyKanta stands out for its data coverage
National online health care services are now an integral part of the everyday life of citizens in all the Nordic countries. In MyKanta, patient data is available on a wider scale than similar services in other countries, according to a comparison made between selected countries.
The Nordic countries wish to manage their health matters digitally: all the Nordic countries have a national online health care service. A joint report by the authorities developing digital services provides a comparison of the national online services of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark as well as their use, functionalities and trends. For Finland, the data in the report concern MyKanta.
In Finland, almost all the service providers in both public and private social welfare and healthcare services store patient data so that they can be viewed by citizens in MyKanta.
“The strength of MyKanta is its comprehensiveness: Finns can see almost all their health-related information in one location,” highlights Mari Holmroos, business expert for the Kanta Services.
Use of online services continues to grow
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a spike in the use of online health care services in the Nordic countries. The report data shows that access to the services has now stabilised at a normal growth rate in all the countries. This is also the case in Finland, where the number of MyKanta users and visits is increasing at a steady rate. In 2024, MyKanta was accessed more than 37.8 million times.
Relative to population, MyKanta has fewer visits than, for example, the equivalent service in Sweden or Norway.
“One reason is that in other Nordic countries, national services include not only personal health information for citizens, but also information on illnesses and their treatment as well as symptom assessments,” Holmroos points out. In Finland, similar general health information is available in the online services of the wellbeing services counties, the Omaolo service, the Terveyskirjasto.fi health information service and the Current Care Guidelines, among others.
Applications are becoming more popular
A new trend in online health care services is their mobile use. The first version of the MyKanta application has just been released in Finland. The mobile application allows you to view and renew prescriptions, and to enable notifications concerning new and renewed prescriptions. Other features will be added to the application in stages.
“Mobile use is no longer just an add-on, it’s something that customers now expect,” notes Holmroos. “We are developing the MyKanta application to serve its users in the best way possible based on user feedback,” she continues.
When comparing the Nordic services, Denmark’s minSundhed app is currently the most advanced. It has just added a new feature to display medication information previously displayed on a separate app. In Norway and Sweden, in many cases the apps direct the users to the functions in the web browser.
A digital situational picture supports joint development
Citizens in the Nordic countries find the national online services to be familiar and they are very popular, creating a strong basis for developing these services. The European Health Data Space Regulation (EHDS) sets common goals for all EU countries to ensure citizens have access to their own electronic health data.
“A situational picture of national online services will provide useful information as citizens’ ability to manage their personal health data is developed at a European level,” shares Holmroos.
Further information
See the report on Nordic national online health care services.(opens new window)