Current status of national eHealth and telemedicine development in Finland

This eHealth paper shows the results of a survey produced by FinnTelemedicum, Centre of Excellence for Telehealth at the University of Oulu and STAKES (National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health development in Finland) under assignment of the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The survey shows the status and trends of the usage of eHealth applications in the Finnish health care in 2005. The results are compared to an earlier survey made in 2003. The 2005 survey included all service providers in public and private medical services: hospital districts or central hospitals for secondary/tertiary care, primary health care centers and a sample of private sector service providers. The results show that the usage of eHealth applications has greatly progressed throughout the entire health care delivery system. The current wide utilization of the eHealth applications in Finnish health care forms a solid basis for developing future eHealth services. Finland has taken the initiative to build a national archive for electronic health data with citizen access by 2011.