ePA 3.0: What everyone can expect from the electronic patient file
All those with statutory health insurance who do not object are to automatically receive an electronic patient file with immediate effect. Or not all?
According to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, the electronic patient file should enable telemedicine and Dr. KI.
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As of today, many statutory health insurance funds are starting to roll out the electronic patient file (ePA) for their policyholders – at least for those who have not objected. As one of the two record systems has only recently been approved, only some of the insured will initially receive a new electronic patient record. This affects 25 million insured people whose health insurance companies are customers of Bitmarck and RISE, according to Bitmarck.
This means that initially, only a few will receive the ePA in version 3.0 – Preference will be given to those who already have an ePA 2.6. This will not work for IBM's ePA file system for now. When trying to log in, the following information will appear: “Sorry, an unexpected error has occurred”. By mid-February, all those with statutory health insurance who had not objected to the creation of the ePA should have an ePA 3.0. According to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, the health insurance companies will initially load the billing data for the last five years into the electronic patient file for their policyholders.
What is happening in the model regions?
A pilot phase will initially take place in Hamburg, Franconia and practices in Westphalia-Lippe. This means that insured people who are in the region can have their ePA filled in by a doctor there – provided the technical requirements are met. Due to security flaws, only certain doctors will be able to access their patients' ePAs for now. However, Lauterbach promises to have these rectified. If the tests in the model regions are successful, the ePA should also be able to support the treatment of patients throughout Germany.
(mack)