The issue of an electronic prescription, which should start on January 3, 2022 in the doctor’s offices, has been postponed indefinitely. This is announced by the newly appointed Federal Ministry of Health. The e-prescription is to be tested further across the board, with a precise observation of the course of the test, which records the real progress of the project. Only when the e-prescription works smoothly should it be introduced “according to a rollout process that has yet to be determined”.
Required systems not available everywhere
In a letter published by the Deutsche Apotheker-Zeitung to the shareholders of the Gematik project company, the Federal Ministry of Health complains that the technical systems required for the e-prescription are not yet widely available. Therefore, the test phase is to be extended and the start date planned for January 3, 2022 is to be canceled. As far as possible, the e-prescription should be issued in medical practices and redeemed in pharmacies.
“Significant digitization project”
The step-by-step expansion of the pilot operation is not limited in time, but should be controlled differently than before: “This controlled test and pilot phase in the coming weeks, however, also requires significant improvements in support and the binding nature of the test processes with clear responsibilities and greater transparency the progress of the project on the part of all those involved and a reporting process that is suitable to avoid misunderstandings about the maturity of the individual components and the overall system in the future “, according to the letter that was sent to the shareholders by e-mail. In any case, the “politically highly significant digitization project” must be established in the supply.
Update 12/21/21, 3:00 p.m.: In a first reaction to the extension of the test phase by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), the German Medical Association welcomes the approach and promises to support the test phase constructively. For testing, she calls for “transparent quality criteria” that every software provider must meet. Gematik also expressed itself positively in its statement on the “extension of the tests”. The project company is keeping a low profile as to how things will continue: “As soon as certain quality criteria are met, the nationwide rollout should take place in a process that has yet to be determined,” she says.
Most recently, the statutory health insurance associations had spoken out against the start date of the e-prescription such as the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU). The eAU is apparently not affected by the extension of the test phase because a transitional rule applies here. If practices cannot transmit the eAU, for example because the KIM mail required for this has not yet been integrated, they can print out a three-fold style sheet for the health insurance company, employer and insured person.
(mack)