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Through its funding call for proactive healthcare and social welfare solutions, Sitra identified wellbeing services counties interested in increasing the use of proactive methods for disease prevention.
The objective was to fund pilot projects using proactive data-driven and/or AI-based methods to enable early intervention in situations that threaten individuals’ health and wellbeing. Proactive healthcare and social services also provide wellbeing services counties with opportunities for managing costs by addressing problems in a timely manner.
Largest share of funding awarded to Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county
A total of thirteen wellbeing services counties participated in the funding call, which closed in April, submitting fifteen applications. Four projects were selected for funding. Sitra’s total funding for this round amounted to 500,000 euros, with Sitra’s funding share capped at 50% of the total project costs.
The largest share of funding (200,000 euros) was granted to the Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county. The project will leverage the Health Benefit Assessment tool (available in Finnish Terveyshyötyarvio) and Kanta data to develop an operating model that helps primary care physicians identify high-risk patients and care gaps. The solution supports Pirkanmaa’s care continuity model (in Finnish), under which primary care physicians and nurses will be assigned by 2025 to patients with the greatest need for continuity of care.
AI accelerates risk identification in Kanta-Häme and North Savo – patient safety enhanced in Southwest Finland
In Kanta-Häme, an AI model is being developed to enable the proactive identification of mental health challenges among young people. This will facilitate low-threshold service guidance and the provision of appropriate services for children and young people.
In North Savo, an AI-assisted tool for identifying medication risks is being developed, with Sitra funding the prototype.
A joint project by the Southwest Finland wellbeing services county and the Centre for Safety and Quality in Healthcare aims to improve patient safety in surgical care by developing an intelligent reporting system for adverse events and near misses in patient care.
All projects are currently underway and are scheduled for completion by the end of June 2026.
Proactive approach attracts wellbeing services counties
“The funding call demonstrated that data-driven proactive methods are of great interest to wellbeing services counties,” says Tuula Tiihonen, Leading Specialist at Sitra.
“The most popular topics in the applications were the use of proactive methods in mental health, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, the identification of risks at the individual and population levels, as well as better allocation of resources, motivated counties to apply for funding.”
“The selection process was challenging due to the high quality of the applications, and we had to leave many excellent proposals unfunded. For this reason, we are planning a second funding call for proactive healthcare and social welfare solutions in the autumn,” Tiihonen explains.
Encouragement for a new funding round also comes from legislative reforms presented by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. If passed, these reforms will enable a clearer implementation of proactive healthcare and social services in Finland. Proposed amendments to the Health Care Act and the Act on the Processing of Client Data (in Finnish, in Swedish) to promote proactive methods are currently under consultation. The laws are intended to come into force at the beginning of next year.
“We welcome this development with great enthusiasm,” Tiihonen concludes.
