BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – According to plans by the Federal Ministry of Health, patients will soon have a central digital route to treatments and appointments in practices. This should be done via the electronic patient records (ePA) apps, as a draft bill from the department stipulates. From February 2028 at the latest, the health insurance companies should set up functions for a “digital start to care” – for example for booking appointments and with access to a standardized initial assessment of complaints, after which you can be guided further.
“Insured people should be offered user-friendly, digital ways to get outpatient care,” says the draft bill, which was first reported by the “Politico Pro Health Newsletter”. It is available to the German Press Agency. Among other things, this is intended to regulate the general introduction of e-transfers for further treatment. The target date for this is September 2029.
Around 70 million insured people have an ePA
Around 70 million of the 74 million people with statutory health insurance have had their insurance company create an e-file, which you can also refuse. Clinics and practices are now obliged to provide data such as findings or laboratory values. This is also intended to avoid double examinations and drug interactions. So far, millions of insured people are not actively using their ePA to view their own data or block sensitive content.
The digital law is also intended to prepare for the coalition’s planned introduction of a system in which patients should generally go to a family doctor’s practice first. If necessary, she should then refer them to specialists – with an appointment within a certain period of time./sam/DP/nas
