Presenting Kuopio Health members: Teamcare
Teamcare – A System for Inclusive Rehabilitation
A personal experience can become the spark for a change that transforms an entire system. Riina Rubinstein, CEO and developer of Teamcare Oy, has created a tool that unites clients, families, and professionals around shared goals. Under her leadership, Teamcare™ brings greater transparency, inclusivity, and impact to social and healthcare services—one person and one goal at a time.
From personal experience to a social innovation
“This has been a personal journey for me, one that started already in my childhood,” says Rubinstein.
She has seen the social and healthcare system from many angles—working within it, leading teams, and as a family member of someone needing care.
“My experience as a relative navigating a dysfunctional system was the trigger that led me to study how these processes are designed, implemented, evaluated, and monitored. I went through the entire system in great depth and concluded that each part of it is extremely weakly executed. It was hard to believe that such an uncontrolled system could exist in a modern society,” she continues.
Years of research and development ultimately led to Teamcare, a structured, role-based system that brings all stakeholders together and places the client at the informational and functional center of the process.
A new solution for operational management
Teamcare consolidates all the information related to operational management—goals, methods, services, daily activities, and evaluations. In Finland, social and healthcare services are typically monitored through spot inspections conducted with limited resources, often only after problems have already appeared. Teamcare provides a new solution by generating continuous quantitative and qualitative data on service delivery and effectiveness.
The Teamcare operational management system works on both mobile devices and web browsers, and it can be integrated with any client information system. It is also connected to Finland’s Kanta Services. Teamcare’s five-tiered structured model gathers all essential information in one place and makes it interactive. With the support of artificial intelligence, it creates a unified and efficient data model that serves clients, professionals, and decision-makers alike.
The system collects information not only from professionals but also from clients, their families, and everyday networks—even, for example, a football coach if they are part of the client’s support network. It analyses data in real time, enabling continuous tracking of goal progress, identifying deviations, and allocating resources effectively. Monitoring and evaluation thus become ongoing, proactive processes that make both successes and development needs visible.
Making problems visible
Riina sees Teamcare as an answer to the overarching problem in social and healthcare operations management—fragmented processes, siloed information, and the lack of client participation.
“Everyday life and services don’t communicate with each other. That’s the root cause of many issues. You can’t implement an activity if you don’t know what you’re aiming for,” Rubinstein summarizes.
When information, goals, and responsibilities are brought together, rehabilitation and wellbeing become visible and measurable. Client plans no longer sit forgotten in drawers—they come alive, guiding actions from everyday life all the way to decision-making.
From piloting toward a future standard
Although Teamcare is still in its pilot phase, its potential is broad. It is currently being prepared for implementation in aftercare within child welfare services, and there is interest from healthcare, psychiatry, and rehabilitative services as well.
“When you’re introducing a new, participatory way to manage and deliver services, the development work demands more. You can’t take it to the field half-finished—it must be safe and ready because it’s used by vulnerable groups,” Rubinstein emphasizes.
The piloting and development phase will likely be long. After the research and development stage, Teamcare received major recognition when the Foundation for Finnish Inventions awarded it in 2023. The award also brought partners to help establish the company. Rubinstein believes that Teamcare could eventually become the standard for operational management.
“It’s both an extremely efficient decision-making tool and a participatory, fair instrument for clients. It serves every level—clients, service providers, and wellbeing regions alike.”
The international significance of Teamcare has also been recognized: Riina Rubinstein and Teamcare received the GlobalWIIN Exemplary Special Recognition Award 2025, presented in London in October 2025. The award honors innovative achievements and work that focuses on responsible innovation, advanced technologies, and sustainable solutions.
Riina Rubinstein, developer of Teamcare, at the GlobalWIIN Award Gala.
The Kuopio Health Ecosystem creates positive energy
Membership in the Kuopio Health ecosystem has provided Teamcare with support and connections for further development.
“There’s such a great energy in your organization—and that’s not a small thing. You create a community where people feel good and want to collaborate. I’ve felt truly welcomed,” Rubinstein says gratefully.
Networking, piloting opportunities, and investor connections are areas she intends to leverage even more in the future. Teamcare also opens possibilities for collaboration with other ecosystem members: various technologies, methods, and devices can be connected to the platform as part of holistic rehabilitation solutions.
With determination and heart
The story of Teamcare is one of perseverance and passion.
“I do this out of love and belief that this is a meaningful and necessary innovation. I simply can’t stop—it’s too important,” Riina says.
In the EU Women TechEU Deep Tech funding call, Teamcare received top evaluations, particularly for its innovative approach and strategic vision for reforming social and healthcare services.
Teamcare is more than an operational management system, it’s a promise of a more inclusive and humane social and healthcare sector.