Why Europe is looking to the Nordics for healthcare architecture
At a time when Europe is redefining its digital health future, looking north is about accelerating progress and ensuring that IT becomes a catalyst for modern healthcare.
Many European hospital information systems are approaching the end of their lifecycle, motivating healthcare authorities to consider alternatives to traditional large-scale system replacements.
Over decades of electronic health record development and continuous platform evolution, the Lifecare product portfolio has gradually developed into an open data architecture designed to support interoperability and long-term flexibility, making Tieto Caretech as a trusted leader in interoperable healthcare solutions.
This development comes at a decisive moment for European healthcare. Ageing populations, workforce shortages and rising care costs are placing structural pressure on healthcare systems across the continent. At the same time, thousands of hospitals still rely on information systems originally designed for a very different technological landscape. Patient data often remains locked inside siloed environments, limiting both care coordination and the ability to introduce new digital capabilities.
Many of these systems will reach end-of-life during the coming decade. Rather than replacing them with new monolithic platforms, healthcare organizations are increasingly exploring modular architectures that allow systems to evolve gradually while protecting existing clinical data.
In the Nordic countries, this transformation is already well underway. In the Data-Driven Care unit (DDC) at Tieto Caretech, our focus is turning healthcare data into actionable insights that improve care quality and efficiency. In my role as Head of DDC I see organizations modernizing their digital environments step by step by separating data from applications and introducing new capabilities incrementally. At Tieto Caretech, we support this transition through the Lifecare portfolio. Lifecare helps care organizations manage the full care value chain, from daily clinical operations to data-driven management and analytics. Today, Lifecare supports the everyday care of more than ten million citizens across the Nordic region.
Lifecare is a set of smart, flexible, and collaborative software solutions that empower healthcare professionals across Europe to deliver more meaningful care moments. Built on open standards, modular architecture, and regulatory readiness, Lifecare is future‑proof by design. It adapts as healthcare evolves, integrates seamlessly into diverse environments, and grows with organisations as new needs, technologies, and regulations emerge.
At the core of Lifecare Clinical Suite is a transparent, vendor-neutral clinical data model based on openEHR. By separating data from applications, healthcare organizations can maintain long-term access to their data while continuously introducing new applications, analytics tools and digital services.
This approach offers something many healthcare systems across Europe are now seeking: interoperability, flexibility and genuine freedom of choice.
Nordic capability at the core
A significant part of Tieto Caretech’s research and development takes place in Oulu, Finland, a city with a long technology heritage. The region’s engineering ecosystem originally grew around Nokia and has since evolved into one of Northern Europe’s strongest software development hubs.
That expertise continues to support the development of the Lifecare portfolio and the broader ambition of building open and scalable healthcare platforms.
Our objective is to help healthcare organizations build digital environments that can evolve over time. Instead of replacing entire systems at once, hospitals can introduce improvements gradually while maintaining continuity in clinical operations and safeguarding existing data.
In this type of ecosystem architecture, different vendors and applications can coexist on top of a shared data foundation. Healthcare organizations can adopt new modules, analytics capabilities or digital services when they are needed, rather than being tied to a single supplier roadmap. Freedom of choice is a central principle.
A European shift toward open health data
Across Europe, there is growing ambition to create healthcare environments where information can move more freely between organizations and systems.
Achieving this requires digital architectures capable of integrating technologies from multiple vendors while supporting emerging innovations such as AI-enabled clinical tools.
This transformation is also being supported by European policy initiatives, including the upcoming European Health Data Space (EHDS).
Finland has played an important role in shaping this direction. The country’s national health data archive and more than a decade of work harmonizing clinical data have contributed directly to the development of EHDS specifications.
Finland was also the first EU country to reform legislation enabling the secondary use of healthcare data, making it possible to build large-scale health data environments that support both research and clinical development.
Since 2017, Helsinki University Hospital and Tieto have worked together to create Europe’s first CE-approved healthcare data lake, demonstrating how large-scale clinical data platforms can support innovation in healthcare.
Validation from Switzerland and Spain
Tieto Caretech’s approach is now attracting interest from major healthcare transformation initiatives across Europe.
In Switzerland, Basel University Hospital selected Tieto Caretech to participate in an innovation challenge exploring the potential of open electronic health record architectures. During 2025, Lifecare clinical applications were used to demonstrate fully integrated clinical workflows. The hospital is now evaluating whether a platform-based architecture could support its future digital environment.
Lifecare is gaining attention further south as well. The Catalan Health Service has selected Tieto Caretech to co-develop real-life clinical use cases on top of an open health platform for the entire Catalonia region, serving more than 7.5 million citizens.
Catalonia’s ambition mirrors Finland’s healthcare reform: a shared digital platform that supports an entire regional population while enabling continuous innovation across the healthcare ecosystem.
Lessons from the Nordic journey
As many European healthcare systems prepare for major digital renewals, the Nordic experience offers valuable perspectives.
The path forward will not be identical for every country. Healthcare systems differ in structure, governance and funding. But the Nordic journey illustrates how open, modular architectures can support both everyday clinical work and long-term healthcare transformation.
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Author
Head of data-driven care
