RAIsoft’s analyses make quality and impact visible in Humana’s impact report
At Humana, RAIsoft.net software is widely used across child welfare and disability services, as well as in mental health and substance abuse work.
In 2023, Humana launched a company-wide impact initiative. First, they identified phenomena with broad societal resonance in Finland that social care providers have the power to influence. Mental well-being, societal safety, and the future of the welfare state emerged as key themes.
Humana produced its first full-year impact report covering the year 2025. The work undertaken is substantial and new, so they decided to tackle it step by step. Humana focused on describing impact from the perspective of children and young people. In 2026, the impact report will expand to cover disability services as well.
The RAIsoft.net software emerged as a key tool for measuring impact.
“Without RAI data, there would be no impact report,” Director of Communications and Impact Tiia Soininen states point-blank.
Important themes and patience
In collaboration with RAIsoft expert Riitta Sernola, custom analyses were created for Humana in the interRAI ChyMH-DD (nicknamed Symppis) tool—designed for child and youth mental health and developmental disability work—to highlight core themes for impact reporting.
“At first, you hope that you’ll see changes in the metrics in just a few months. Then we accepted that change is slow and takes time,” says Quality and Development Manager Riikka Kalliomäki.
The topics addressed are so large and significant that quick fixes do not exist. When discussing issues like youth anxiety or self-harming behavior, even small positive changes are crucial.
“RAI metrics help bring issues forward numerically. Data helps us verbalize and demonstrate impact. Through RAI, we get facts on whether change is actually happening,” Soininen notes.
The information produced by the RAIsoft.net software provides clear, numerical facts that usually validate impressions experts already have. Occasionally, it also challenges assumptions and requires a deeper dive.
“Sometimes we might assume something is at a certain level, but the metrics show otherwise. It forces us to reflect on why that difference exists,” Kalliomäki says.
Quality and Development Manager Riikka Kalliomäki and Director of Communications and Impact Tiia Soininen
RAI works at every level
Information provided by the RAIsoft.net software is utilized flexibly across all operational levels. At the individual level, it offers a comprehensive picture of how a specific person is doing right now. In child and youth mental health work, RAI helps demonstrate in very concrete terms what the work has achieved.
“We’ve seen situations where a young person feels that nothing is progressing, but the metrics show otherwise. That provides motivation and commitment to change,” Kalliomäki says.
At the organizational level, data is viewed from a different perspective:
“We can look at RAI data at the unit, regional, and national levels across Finland. For example, we noticed that anxiety decreased more in a specific region than elsewhere. We could then examine and discuss what was done differently there and share those learnings with other units,” says Soininen.
“In client-level supervisory management, RAI data indicates where we should prioritize and what actions need to be taken. At the unit level, it highlights where resources should be allocated and whether new competencies are needed in the unit to better meet client needs,” Kalliomäki continues.
RAI changes operations
Humana has observed that RAI data transforms daily work practices.
“The client's situation becomes more transparent, and changes can be monitored using objective metrics rather than relying on gut feelings. This year, we have also focused on how data is utilized at the unit level. For instance, we can assess whether a unit’s skill set matches its client profile, if training is required, or whether corrective measures should be taken. The goal is to improve clients’ quality of life.”
Learning something new and embedding new working methods also requires patience.
“Implementation has required a lot of dialogue and leadership commitment. In the beginning, there was change resistance because carrying out assessments takes time. However, the work gets easier as you learn how to do the assessments. And once the results become visible, motivation grows,” Kalliomäki notes.
“It pays off to adopt the whole RAI framework in stages. First, you learn to conduct assessments, then to utilize the data. High-quality groundwork is essential. If the assessments aren't accurate, the data won't be reliable either.”
Meaningful work
The impact report is not created merely for the sake of having a report.
“The report is a way to highlight important issues and stand out. Hopefully, it also builds awareness and impact across the entire social care sector, as well as people’s understanding that meaningful work is being done in this field,” concludes Communications and Impact Director Tiia Soininen.
