Lauterbach on the ePA: No penalties for now if something doesn't work

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In his keynote speech at the DMEA digital health trade fair, for which he is now the patron for the third time, Federal Health Minister Prof. Karl Lauterbach gave an outlook on the next steps for the electronic patient record (elektronische Patientenakte, ePA). In the coming weeks, the ePA is to be launched in other model regions and filled in by doctors there. Sanctions will follow, but only later. The minister did not say exactly when. He promised the President of the Association of Pediatricians and Adolescent Doctors, Michael Hubmann, special regulations for the privacy of children and adolescents.

It is important that the electronic patient file for doctors starts voluntarily. Nobody should be punished if something does not work that they cannot control themselves, said Lauterbach. In the past, there had been much criticism of the hasty launch of the electronic patient file 3.0. A new rollout plan is to be drawn up soon.

"Benchmarks generally achieved"

Overall, Lauterbach was satisfied with the development of the electronic patient file. He said that 280,000 ePAs were being opened every week and that the benchmarks for the evaluation of the test phase had generally been achieved. The practice management systems are also making good progress. Lauterbach was also confident about the security of the electronic patient file. The security gaps for mass access to the ePAs have been closed, but he did not comment on other shortcomings.

With the ePA, to which five percent of insured persons have so far objected, patients could better understand their illnesses and "educate" themselves with Ki. The ePA therefore strengthens patient autonomy and improves treatment. It is particularly helpful in complex cases, as all the data is rarely available. In the future, "simple patients" could be treated completely digitally. So far, 3.5 million e-prescriptions are entered into the ePA every day and medication lists are created.

E-prescription, organ donor register and eAU

Lauterbach cited the e-prescription, the digital organ donor register and the electronic certificate of incapacity for work as successes of the Federal Ministry of Health, which he said were working "decently". The electronic patient file and the Health Research Data Center (FDZ Gesundheit), which is located at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices and to which billing data now flows daily, are currently being developed.

"This means that we will very quickly see a breakthrough in research as well, and it will later be possible to link routine data, treatment data, imaging data, genome data, billing data - all of this will be pseudonymized so that this data can then be evaluated in a confidential computing environment," says Lauterbach. Intelligent voice systems can be used to record data. As an example, Lauterbach cited the start-up "Voice", which helps with documentation in the care sector. There are "many pioneers" in the healthcare system.

"Digitalization is the key"

Lauterbach sees four major challenges for the German healthcare system: there is too little preventative medicine, too little specialization (especially in the hospital sector), too much bureaucracy and too little digitalization. He sees the latter as the "key" to solving the first three problems.

Digitalization is a basic prerequisite for AI. It occurs in various areas, from the initial assessment of emergency patients to Nobel prizes. In Lauterbach's opinion, the Act to Accelerate Digitalization in Healthcare, the Health Data Use Act, the Health Digital Agency Act, which has not yet been passed, and the AI Regulation are paving the way for better healthcare. With the help of AI.

"This train is picking up speed, which is surprising every few months. And if you look at the Stanford AI Index these weeks, for example, and see what's new, what's been added, it's simply incredible. Artificial intelligence is exceeding all expectations, all benchmarks are being taken faster. The Turing test has been taken," said Lauterbach. "AI expert systems" would partly manage without doctors and would also strengthen doctors.

(mack)