Berlin The electronic prescription was announced by the former Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) as one of the most important digitization projects in the health sector. At the turn of the year, the project should start nationwide in Germany – and ban paper prescriptions from pharmacies, medical practices and clinics.
After all, the 73 million people with statutory health insurance get around 500 million prescriptions per year. Now it is official that nothing will come of the project for the time being. Spahn’s successor Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has postponed the start of the e-prescription indefinitely.
It has become clear that “the necessary technical systems are not yet available across the board,” said a letter from the Federal Ministry of Health on Monday. The letter is addressed to the Gematik company, in which the federal government holds the majority and which is responsible for the e-prescription.
The shareholders also include the German Medical Association and the umbrella association of statutory health insurances. Now “the controlled test and pilot operation is to be continued and expanded step by step in the coming weeks”. A new date from which the obligation will take effect has not yet been set.
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In a statement on Tuesday, Gematik described the first quarter of 2022 as a “transition period” during which installations and training courses for the use of the updates could take place. The further procedure will be coordinated with the shareholders in the coming weeks, according to Gematik.
The health insurance companies warned: E-prescription is not yet ready to start
For months there had been strong concerns in the medical profession and under the health insurance system about the originally planned start date. “The e-prescription is stillborn,” said a cashier who does not want to be quoted by name. At the end of last week, the heads of the largest statutory health insurance companies wrote to the new health minister in a joint letter, warning that the e-prescription was not yet ready for launch.
So far, only 50 digital prescriptions have been sent in test mode. “Absolutely necessary mass tests did not take place,” it says in the letter. “This means that the prerequisites for the nationwide introduction of a tried and tested e-prescription are not met.” As early as November, Gematik announced that it would only impose the mandatory start on those “who are technically capable” due to technical problems.
The health industry reacted with relief to the postponement of the mandatory start. “The shockingly low number of successfully issued e-prescriptions shows that a real and successful test phase is missing,” said the umbrella association of statutory health insurance companies.
The federal chairman of the German Association of General Practitioners, Ulrich Weigeldt, said that digitization should “not raise any technical or bureaucratic hurdles that complicate the workflow”. Under no circumstances should the supply of medicines be endangered for the patient.
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