Health care management will have a significant role in the success of the service planning in the future. Major challenges in the public health care will be the control and understanding of the cost-effectiveness and the overall economy as well as the strategic foresight of the resources and know-how. These challenges concerning public specialized health care are viewed in this research. On the other hand the services have to be targeted to the health needs of the population enabling high health benefits. This will be made possible by developing management activities within the structure chosen in co-operation with primary health care and municipalities. The knowledge-based management consists of business management skills and professional human resources management. These are combined with intentional empirical leadership in which a continuous, systematic data mining will produce the information necessary for leadership to be analysed. This information is then converted to the management track knowledge.

In this study I used the method and data triangulation, where data collection was carried out in a versatile and mutually supportive research approach. Methodologically, I used a theory-driven systematic content analysis, experts in structured interviews, focus-group interviews, as well as documentary material. Material was collected from Finland’s largest hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa representing specialized care. The experts of the research interview were selected from different specialty areas, working at different levels of service as medical and nursing directors.

According to the results of this research the needs and the challenges to the knowledge arise both from the internal and external environment. Wide-ranging and varied knowledge management is increasingly needed, as well as understanding the fact that the information in itself can not be lead. In a knowledge-intensive specialist organization experts are lead facilitating socially open collaborative networks. In these networks information can be collectively built, distributed, converted, and finally made communally accepted and then implemented to the operative level. The leadership must be measurable, intentional activity, which can be assessed and developed. The leaders want to learn mining and analysing data, which is seen essential to the success in the future from the perspective of managerial work. The service planning develops by defined leadership responsibilities in an organization. The leadership has to be measurable and easy to assess. Service planning can be developed through the development of the leadership co-operative with primary healthcare and municipalities. The development will also happen by joint training environment, and coordinated, designated expert network. Knowledge-based management in the public health care will open a new kind of leadership and development, where the leader’s social and interactive capabilities as well as personal leadership skills are more and more pronounced.