Germany is lagging behind when it comes to digitization in the healthcare system. Now there is a breakthrough for useful applications that will reach millions of patients and practices.
Electronic prescriptions and digital patient files are set to come into widespread everyday use after years of delays. This is provided for by a law passed by the traffic light coalition in the Bundestag.
Accordingly, e-prescriptions should become standard and mandatory for practices at the beginning of 2024. At the beginning of 2025, all legally insured people should receive electronic files for health data such as findings and laboratory values - unless they reject it. The use of combined health data for research should also be made possible in the future.
Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) spoke of a quantum leap with which Germany must finally catch up with digitalization in the healthcare system. So far, important data has been distributed across the servers of practices and hospitals where patients have been treated in the past. “It can’t continue to be like this.” The new regulations would have a very concrete benefit for patients. The treatment options would be better for doctors.
According to the law, health insurance companies should set up an e-file for everyone with statutory health insurance by January 15, 2025 – unless you object. The file should be a personal data storage and accompany patients throughout their lives with all doctors. The e-file with certain identification rules should be accessible via cash register apps. It was introduced as an optional offer in 2021, but has hardly been used so far.
E-prescriptions have been available to be redeemed in pharmacies for some time now instead of the usual pink slips. The law now makes it mandatory for doctors to issue prescriptions electronically from January 1, 2024. A second law is intended to make it possible to link data from various sources – for example from cancer registries and health insurance funds – at a central access point. Data should be encrypted (pseudonymized). Lauterbach said this is a breakthrough for research to improve care.
Positive reactions
Green health expert Janosch Dahmen spoke of a “long overdue update” for the digitalization of the healthcare system. “In the future, we will turn the previously unusable electronic patient file for a few into a personal health data room for everyone,” he told the German Press Agency. This means that not only all treating professions can see relevant information in one place, but also the patients themselves for the first time. “This finally eliminates fax machines and file folders and strengthens patient autonomy and patient rights.”
The head of the Techniker Krankenkasse, Jens Baas, said that the e-file must of course be part of the treatment every time you visit a doctor. It is important that it becomes more user-friendly. Logging in needs to be simplified. “As patients are used to with other apps, identification must also be possible in the file via facial scan or fingerprint,” said Baas. The file must be quick and easy for doctors to fill and should not waste time in their practices.
E-prescription across the board
For some time now, e-prescriptions have been able to be redeemed using a special app or a printed QR code instead of the usual pink slip. But a larger-scale start was delayed several times due to technical problems. There is now an easier way to redeem it by inserting the insurance card into a reader at the pharmacy.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
