TI Messenger in the healthcare sector: Interesting facts for insured persons

The first insured persons can already use the TI Messenger (TIM) to communicate securely and directly with doctors or nursing staff. This service was created to protect confidential communication and prevent sensitive information from being exchanged via insecure channels such as WhatsApp.

Chatting already worked well during an initial test, but there is still a misconfiguration that has not been fully resolved. Insured persons – should actually only have the option of writing to their health insurance provider if the doctor does not wish otherwise –. Nevertheless, since the TI messenger was opened to the first insured persons in mid-July, it has also been possible to find doctors who did not want this at all. We have summarized the first important questions about TIM and what could change in the future below.

What is the TI Messenger (TIM)?

The TI-Messenger is a secure instant messaging service for the healthcare sector that is based on the Telematics Infrastructure (TI). It enables the fast, encrypted exchange of medical information between doctors, nursing staff, pharmacies, health insurance companies and insured persons.

What functions does the TI Messenger offer?

To start with, TIM enables the secure sending of short messages, appointments and the exchange of medical documents such as laboratory results and discharge letters. Video calls and group chats are also possible – However, insured persons may only be able to create the latter in exceptional cases. In the ePA app, which can be found under "TI Messenger", there is also a QR code that doctors or other service providers can scan in order to contact the insured person. Conversely, medical facilities can offer insured persons the opportunity to scan a QR code in order to exchange contact information.

As a patient, can I simply contact doctors?

Healthcare providers such as doctors should initiate contact via TIM. In the default settings, doctors cannot be found in the directory for insured persons via TIM. Doctors can set themselves whether they can only be found in the directory service by colleagues or other service providers or by insured persons in order to be contacted. Doctors known to the editorial team do not want to receive inquiries from millions of insured persons as they do not have enough time to deal with answering patient inquiries via TIM on the side.

Can I write to my health insurance company via TIM?

Yes, during an initial test this also worked – but the conversation was closed again due to a lack of reasons. According to Gematik, every health insurance fund must ensure "that it can be contacted by insured persons. How this is implemented in detail varies from case to case".

Who can use the TI Messenger?

At present, it is mainly doctors who use the TI Messenger, but other service providers such as pharmacies, nursing staff and health insurance companies can also use it. The first health insurance companies have now integrated and activated the TI Messenger function for their policyholders in their apps for the electronic patient file (ePA).

Can I also contact other insured persons via TIM?

No, TIM is not designed for this. Similarly, group chats with other insured persons initiated by doctors' surgeries or care facilities, for example, should be closed if only insured persons are still in the chat because all other participants have left the room.

Can I use TIM even if I have objected to the ePA?

Not at the moment, but you will be able to in the future. According to Gematik, the future digital health agency, an upcoming version of TIM will also allow the TI Messenger to be used outside of the ePA app. It refers to a current discussion on Github in which the implementation of this option is being discussed.

How secure is communication via TIM?

All messages in the TI Messenger are end-to-end encrypted so that medically relevant and confidential information can be transmitted securely. Communication is protected against unauthorized access in multiple ways. There is still criticism regarding the metadata, but the founders of the Matrix protocol promise in a blog post to improve the protection of metadata.

Is TIM also available for privately insured persons?

Not yet, but this is set to change in the future: "For private health insurers, offering the TI messenger in the ePA is currently not mandatory. However, it is being reviewed by the companies, so that in future there will probably also be privately insured persons who use the TI messenger," says a spokesperson for the Association of Private Health Insurers.

Note: As TIM is only being rolled out for insured persons, we will update this information as new developments occur.

(mack)