Terveystietoon

Terveystietoon refers to health information about individuals or populations, including clinical data, diagnoses, treatments, medications, laboratory results, imaging, immunizations, and patient-reported information. It also includes metadata and administrative data such as timestamps.

Sources include electronic health records (EHRs), laboratory information systems, imaging archives, prescription databases, patient portals, and surveys. Health data may be stored in national or regional information systems; in Finland, Kanta services provide centralized access to health documents, medication data, and electronic prescriptions for providers and patients.

Uses include supporting patient care, clinical decision-making, care coordination, public health surveillance, health-system management, and research. Data may be used in de-identified form for population health and research with appropriate approvals.

Privacy and legal framework: Health data is sensitive personal data and is protected under the GDPR and Finnish data protection laws. Processing requires a lawful basis, consent or public interest, data minimization, pseudonymization, strong security measures, access controls, and audit trails. In Finland, the Health Care Act and sector-specific provisions, along with Kanta standards, govern practical handling of terveystietoon.

Interoperability and challenges: Standards like HL7 FHIR, LOINC, SNOMED CT, and DICOM for imaging support data exchange; interoperability and semantic alignment are required. Challenges include data fragmentation across systems, privacy concerns, consent management, data quality, and governance.

Terveystietoon is central to modern health care and research; balancing usability and privacy is ongoing.