Policy guidelines for information management in healthcare and social welfare sent out for comments

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health requests comments on the policy guidelines for information management in healthcare and social welfare. The deadline for submitting comments is 15 September 2021.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health started preparing policy guidelines for information management in healthcare and social welfare in March 2021. In this context, policy guidelines refer to extensive guidelines or planning decisions approved or issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health which concern certain development targets relating to information management and digitalisation. Such guidelines or decisions also make it possible to assess development work retrospectively. The policy guidelines were prepared to guide and plan ongoing development work and, in particular, to support the preparation of the health and social services reform. 

The policy guidelines for information management in healthcare and social welfare are grouped as follows:

• the common guidelines, 
• the guidelines for the processing of client and patient data (the primary use of data) 
• the guidelines for data processing for the purpose of guidance, knowledge management and supervision (the secondary use of data), and 
• the guidelines for self-care and self-management of health. 

The policy guidelines will affect a number of operators, and they are fundamental and long-term in nature. In future, the guidelines will be binding in the development of information management. They must be followed when making project plans and evaluations relating to information management. If a deliberate decision is made to deviate from the guidelines, the deviation must be justified. 

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health maintains the policy guidelines for information management in healthcare and social welfare and reviews their content annually to ensure they are up to date. Any necessary changes will be made in accordance with the annual planning cycle of information management and as part of the Ministry’s enterprise architecture guidance and planning. Before approving the guidelines, the Ministry requests feedback and views on them. Feedback can be submitted between 25 August and 15 September 2021.

• Feedback can be submitted on the lausuntopalvelu.fi website (service for online consultation available in Finnish and Swedish). 

Inquiries

Riikka Vuokko, tel. +358 29 5163 600, [email protected]