Public procurement has been considered as an important instrument in triggering innovations and thereby supporting public economy. In recent years, innovation supportive procurement practices have been studied. However, conducting the public procurement of innovations is said to be challenging and several barriers that prohibit innovation in public procurement have also been reported. Due to the significant role of health and social services in public economy, we found it important to study whether innovation supportive procurement practices are used in health and social services. In addition, we studied the possible barriers to the public procurement of innovations in this context. We interviewed eighteen public purchasers from three different municipalities. Results revealed that innovation supportive purchasing practices were emerging in health and social services. However, purchasers reported several barriers to it. Many of the barriers were similar to those found in the previous studies. In addition results revealed barriers that were related to health and social service context in particular, such as the uncertainty of demand, challenges in outcome definition and measurement, the rigid regulation of the context, multiple supplier and complex environment as well as ethical sensitivity of the context. Results have significance when evaluating the applicability of public procurement of innovations in health and social service context.