Kanta services in 2026: Developing Kanta data to better aid the work of professionals
The purpose of Kanta services is to ensure that social welfare and health care data is transferred securely and efficiently and to support the wellbeing of citizens. We compiled a list of the most topical development areas and the main lines of development for the coming years.
Kanta is an extensive and continuously developing package that introduces new functionalities and improves existing ones.
In 2026, particularly topical development areas include
- continuing the Kanta medication list
- data transfer between social welfare and health care
- saving health care appointment information in Kanta
- development related to social welfare client record entries and functional capacity information
- development of certificates and statements as required by the Act on the Electronic Processing of Client Data in Healthcare and Social Welfare
- development of the MyKanta application and online service to facilitate citizens’ access to their own health care and social welfare service data and to support people’s active role in promoting wellbeing.
In addition, the utilisation of Kanta data in secondary use will be improved by expanding the information base of the Kanta data platform with, for example, social welfare and oral health care data as well as with the contents of the prescription and medication list.
Development funding for Kanta services will decrease significantly in 2026 as part of the cuts in public sector expenditure. Among other things, strict prioritisation of development work will be utilised to respond to the changes.
– Close cooperation with wellbeing services counties and system suppliers will now be even more important in order to ensure that development responds accurately to the needs of the counties. In addition to client needs, development is guided by national and EU legislation as well as national health care and social welfare service information management needs, explains Development Manager Pirjo Vuorikallas when summarising the selection of development areas.
Four themes are highlighted in the long-term development of Kanta services:
- The information produced by Kanta provides even better support for the daily work of professionals. The technical interfaces of Kanta services will be developed towards the HL7 FHIR standard, which will facilitate the development of local systems and enable the real-time and structured storage and utilisation of information. This will improve the quality of services and speed up care decisions by making it easier for professionals to access the information they need.
- New statutory functionalities to support the continuity of care and services. New national functionalities will improve the flow of information between health care and social welfare service operators and support information management and the monitoring of service operations while simultaneously increasing the opportunities for clients to participate in their own care.
- Preparing for national implementation of the EU EHDS Regulation. Kanta services will prepare for the requirements of the EHDS Regulation and support wellbeing services counties so that the same solutions do not need to be implemented separately in different systems. The goal is to enable flexible and cost-effective solutions in Finland’s health care and social service information systems and to support international data exchange. MyKanta and its mobile application will also be developed in order to make it easier for citizens to manage their own health data.
- Promoting knowledge-based management and research. The data contents of Kanta services will be developed to support knowledge-based management and research. Particular attention will be paid to the quality of information, and to developing new reports, statistics and indicators to monitor service operations and deployment.
For more information on the development packages, see Kanta.fi.
Clients included in development
When developing Kanta services, we want to hear about the needs of clients and wellbeing services counties. Kanta services include several cooperation forums and places for interaction in order to obtain feedback.
– It is important that Kanta services support the work of professionals and supplement regional services. At the same time, we will ensure that no overlapping work is created, says Vuorikallas.
Support and training on Kanta matters is available
It is important for health care and social welfare service organisations and information system suppliers to keep up to date with the development of Kanta. Kela and THL support all health care and social welfare service stakeholders by offering information events, online courses and guidance.