Norway, Sweden and Finland may be considered as forerunners in adopting openEHR and moving towards open ecosystems. Cross-organizational data sharing has historically been the objective in all Nordic countries. The needs to share data resulted in national document-based data sharing infrastructures in all Nordic countries. That was, however, somewhat limited and the need for complementary structured sharing has started to emerge.

In the Nordics the EHR market leaders chose openEHR as their own data model and started to modernize their solutions as their own internal decision. One of the reasons for them to select openEHR was the inability to react to ever-changing customer needs with their monolithic approach and proprietary data models. Civil society is facing continuous change, and IT solutions must be flexible to adapt to such changes. 

One of the biggest benefits of openEHR for a healthcare delivery entity is the possibility to select best-of-breed functionalities for various purposes and dedicated areas creating a multivendor environment. Healthcare delivery entities see possibilities in utilizing open data for various innovations including secondary use of data. Cross-organizational care pathways, as well as decision support, have been a special interest area in the Nordic countries and supported by openEHR specifications. IT professionals working in healthcare delivery entities appreciate better interoperability and less integration challenges between various systems, and in the longer run also the possibility to avoid data migration. There is no vendor lock-in, and health and social care organizations can decide how to utilize data. Application modules can be replaced and updated independently as needed. Adding innovations is easy and even encouraged.

What are the takeaways from the Nordic market?

The experiences in the Nordic market provide several factors considered to have influenced the success of an open ecosystem or openEHR project. Unless there is a sufficient level of progress being made in each of these areas there is a probability that the projects will face significant delays. Factors influencing success include cultural aspects, legal maturity, awareness building and education as well as readiness within the vendor community.