Electronic patient record: clinics will miss mandatory launch in 2025
The majority of hospitals in Germany are working on implementing electronic patient records. But by 2025, this will no longer be the case across the board.
(Image: BlurryMe/Shutterstock.com)
Only just over half of hospitals (56 percent) have already carried out the necessary updates to their hospital information system (HIS) for the electronic patient record (EPR). This is the result of a flash survey conducted by the German Hospital Institute on behalf of the German Hospital Federation. According to the survey, almost all hospitals (98 percent) have made "organizational preparations" so that they can fill the electronic patient record (elektronische Patientenakte, ePA). 382 hospitals took part in the survey.
According to the survey, 62 percent of hospitals were already able to access the ePA record systems, in some cases only from the test environment. 95 percent of respondents accessed the record systems from the HIS, 13 percent from a practice management system. According to the TI dashboard of Gematik, which is responsible for the digitalization of the healthcare system, 650 out of around 1800 clinics are now using the ePA.
The majority do not expect to be able to use the ePA hospital-wide until the first or second quarter of 2026. Around seven percent of hospitals have already started piloting the system in day-to-day care.
(Image:Â DKG)
Patient records largely not yet ready for use
Following the launch of the ePA in pilot regions, the necessary updates have been gradually rolled out in other hospitals since May 2025. From October, doctors will have to fill the ePA – most hospitals will not yet be able to do this in 2025.
(Image:Â DKG)
"Technical commissioning is labor-intensive and ultimately cannot be carried out across the board at the touch of a button. Rather, the systems must be adapted to the respective, often highly complex IT landscape of the hospital", says the German Hospital Federation. The implementation is complex and requires "extensive adjustments to the individual IT landscape of the hospitals, including configurations, additional security measures and troubleshooting".
"No adequate testing options"
According to the DKG, a lack of adequate testing options also meant that updates were often available late and had to be adapted during operation. Software manufacturers have been complaining for years that there are no reasonable testing options. "In addition, the specifics of hospital processes, for example, regarding the implementation of the legally required objection options, were initially not sufficiently considered. Solutions for this are now being developed and tested under real conditions," says the hospital association. Many hospitals also need to implement further digitalization projects.
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"The results indicate that hospitals clearly see the benefits of the ePA and are actively driving its implementation forward. Even during the pilot phase, however, it became clear that the introduction of the ePA in hospitals cannot be achieved with a simple software update," explains Dr. Gerald GaĂź, Chairman of the Board of the German Hospital Federation (DKG). This TI application also shows "that the conditions in a hospital are not comparable to those in smaller facilities such as doctors' surgeries and that this was not sufficiently considered in advance". In the past, this has also been criticized in connection with problems with the KIM e-mail service, for example.
The company is optimistic about the future, but a major project like this requires a lot of patience. GaĂź hopes that the introductory phase will run as smoothly as possible so as not to jeopardize patient trust.
(mack)
