Health Insurers offer info on e-patient records for all
The statutory health insurance funds must inform their policyholders about the electronic patient file, which comes automatically without objection.
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Health insurance companies inform their policyholders about the electronic patient file (ePA) 3.0, which they are obliged to do. Statutory health insurers have had to offer an electronic patient record since 2021, but as only 1.4 million people have registered for this, it will be available to everyone who does not object from 2025.
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"The eleven AOKs are currently starting to inform their 27 million policyholders by personal letter or email about setting up their personal ePA," says Dr. Carola Reimann, Chairwoman of the AOK Federal Association.
According to the AOK , this is an opportunity to explain the advantages of the ePA and the regulations for protecting health data. Anyone who does not want the ePA must object. "Of course, we will also point out the option to object," promises Reimann. According to the AOK, "the usual medical care [...] is also guaranteed for insured persons who decide against the ePA.
Other health insurance companies, such as Techniker, informed their policyholders in June about the "ePA for all. Company health insurance funds have also already informed their policyholders – the BKK Gildemeister Seidensticker for example at the beginning of August, the Siemens company health insurance fund from May.
Limited range of functions
From January 15, the ePA will initially be launched in the model regions of Hamburg and Central, Upper and Lower Franconia. According to the current plan, it will then be rolled out throughout Germany in mid-February. The range of functions is initially limited: Electronic doctor's letters, discharge letters, diagnostic reports, laboratory findings and image findings can be stored as PDF/A files and information on medication in the form of a medication list.
Large files such as MRI images cannot be stored. It remains to be seen how and whether the launch will go ahead in February. The nationwide introduction of the e-prescription has been repeatedly postponed and has nonetheless been a problem. Critics complained that the e-prescription had not been tested enough in advance. This could have an even greater impact on the ePA. The extent to which hospitals will fill the ePA for everyone is also unclear.
Health insurance companies must inform policyholders
As the "heart of the digitalization of the healthcare system", the ePA is an even more complex structure, which is why doctors fear that they will have to inform many patients about the ePA at the beginning of 2025. However, health insurance companies are legally obliged to provide information.
As part of the information provided to its policyholders, the AOK Bundesverband is also publishing the results of a survey conducted in August by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of the AOK. According to the results, 61.2 percent of all respondents are in favor of automatically creating an electronic patient file for everyone in the future. 20 percent of respondents are against and 15 percent are undecided.
According to the survey, around 77 percent of the 10,000 respondents are interested in viewing health data such as doctor's letters or laboratory data via the ePA in the future. 73 percent of those surveyed were in favor of viewing further information on prescribed treatments and medication.
(mack)