Kanta services are central in implementing the EHDS Regulation – in cooperation with all actors
The EU regulation on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) adopted in March 2025 improves people’s ability to manage their personal health data. For health care professionals, the regulation allows access to patient data regardless of the country of treatment and residence.
Finland has already joined the cross-border exchange of health data in Europe, and prescriptions, prescription delivery data and patient summaries can already be transmitted between European countries.
The general application of the regulation will start on 26 March 2027. At that point, the Commission will have had to adopt a number of implementing acts for the application of the regulation.
March 2029 is when regulation related to the processing of health data belonging to the first priority category of primary use (patient summaries and electronic prescriptions and dispensations) will become applicable.
March 2031 is when regulation related to the processing of health data belonging to the second priority category of primary use (medical images, laboratory results and hospital discharge statements) will become applicable.
Requirements for patient information systems
Many of the patient rights under the EHDS Regulation, such as access to personal health data and the disclosure of data between health care service providers, as well as access to information on the disclosure of one’s personal health data to another party, have already been implemented in Finland with Kanta services.
The new regulation further expands patients’ rights. For example, patients can make requests for rectification, insert information in their own medical record and download a copy of their personal health data. These rights will be implemented in Kanta services, but doing so will require changes to the information systems of all service providers as well.
In addition, health care professionals will need to be able to retrieve the data of a foreign patient from the patient’s home country.
The implementing acts of the regulation will also include directly applicable requirements for patient record systems.
Changes in patient information systems that have been identified so far and must be implemented by March 2029 include making records with a foreign patient’s identification code and any mandatory changes to national data content to enable creating an interoperability format for patient summaries and cross-border prescriptions.
Interoperability and log components must also be implemented in the patient information systems, but their contents will not be specified until the implementing acts. The timetables for changes to patient information systems will also be specified later.
Preparations for implementation are well underway
In Finland, the implementation is led by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Authorities are currently cooperating to map out the needs for changes brought about by the regulation. This process will have to continue for a long time still, as some of the changes can only be identified once the implementing acts have been published. Finnish authorities have long been influencing the content of the Regulation at the EU level, and this work will continue as part of the Xt-EHR project and in other joint EU groups.
Late 2025 saw the reactivation of the national coordination steering group for the regulation and its primary and secondary sub-groups, which have extensive representation from wellbeing services counties, authorities, research districts and associations.
The implementation of the regulation will bring changes to everyone. Particularly patient information system suppliers and those preparing the information system budgets and procurements of health and social services organisations need to keep their finger on the pulse so that information system changes can be implemented when the requirements are known.
Up-to-date information on the progress of implementation – attend webinars and order newsletters!
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has given THL an assignment for 2026 to prepare for the implementation of the EHDS together with other authorities and partners.
Preparations for the implementation will be carried out in all permanent cooperation groups for health and social services information management, involving various actors.
THL is organising a monthly webinar titled EHDS espresso for sharing information about the topic of primary and secondary care and for a current affairs review by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The webinars are open to everyone, and a participation link is available in the THL event calendar.
The presentation materials of all past EHDS espresso webinars can be found in Innokylä (in Finnish):
Innokylä
In addition, all authorities are highlighting EHDS topics in their respective bulletins and newsletters, so there is no better time to subscribe!
This blog launches a series of EHDS-themed blog posts to support the preparations for the implementation. Blogs will be posted about once a month, discussing EHDS implementation from both the primary and the secondary perspective.