What’s new

Returning to the South for the winter? Need your medicine with you? Is a Finnish prescription valid at your local pharmacy in Malaga? Before departure, you should find out about prescriptions, rules relating to reimbursable medication and applying for reimbursement. As a general rule, a prescription issued by a doctor in Finland is valid in […]

For the renewed Suomi.fi online service, information is being collected on public services and service channels throughout Finland. Public services may be produced by government offices, institutes, municipalities or state-owned companies. Suomi.fi serves citizens, companies and authorities alike. Part of Suomi.fi, the Finnish Service Catalogue also has information on social and health services. Each organisation […]

The choosehealthcare.fi website will celebrate its second anniversary on 30 September 2017. At launch, it was the first online service accessible nationwide to offer comprehensive information about patients’ right to choose their healthcare provider in Finland and about access to health services outside Finland. The site was created by the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare […]

Kela has made all forms intended for private clients and partners available on its online service, divided by topic. One of the topics is Moving to or from Finland including, for example, the application form for entitlement to healthcare when moving from Finland. This application is used when you move to an EU/EEA country or […]

The Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare will present the Choosehealthcare.fi online service at Kuntamarkkinat, a fair for municipal professionals estimated to attract some 7,000 visitors. Kuntamarkkinat is the only public administration forum for all municipal administration sectors in Finland. Central government, businesses and associations are also represented at the fair. The seminars and information spots […]

The patient safety strategy has been revised into a patient and client safety strategy. Updated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the strategy will help to develop the Finnish healthcare and social welfare towards a cohesive safety culture. The first Finnish Patient Safety Strategy was prepared for the years 2009–2013. The new strategy […]

Waiting times for non-urgent specialised medical care have come down in Finland: compared with the situation at the end of December, the number of patients waiting for treatment for more than six months has decreased by 1,200 during the spring. Compared with the same period in 2016, the number of those who have been waiting […]

In June, the Contact Point for Cross-Border Healthcare asked people to describe their need for information about healthcare services as well as their experiences. The purpose of the survey was to find out about clients’ needs and wishes in order to develop the contact point’s communications and the Choosehealthcare.fi web service. A total of 96 […]

Kela has already provided almost 1,8 million Finns with the European Health Insurance Card, or EHIC. According to Kela’s statistics, the number of cards has risen steadily from the 1,2 million issued by 2012. All of those whose medical care costs Finland is responsible for are eligible for a . You can order the card […]

According to Kela’s statistics on Finns who have suddenly fallen ill or sought treatment independently outside Finland, medical costs incurred abroad and reimbursements paid retrospectively to the customers are slightly rising. The statistics only take into account those cases where the customers paid all the medical costs themselves and then applied for retroactive reimbursement from Kela. […]