The German agency gematik - focused on the digitisation of the country's healthcare system - has published a new report, the 'Telematics Infrastructure Atlas', providing an update on the current status of the digital health architecture in Germany.

The publication highlights development potential and addresses the use of the electronic patient record (ePA) by healthcare providers and patients in Germany.

According to the report, dental practices (97 per cent), pharmacies (96 per cent) and doctors' offices (93 per cent) are the medical facilities in Germany which are most frequently connected to the telematics infrastructure (TI), followed by psychotherapy practices and hospitals with least 88 per cent.

Although trust in health data protection is high among insured Germans, many health care providers seemingly still have concerns about data security.

Four out of 10 physicians and one third of German pharmacies have already integrated the electronic medication plan into their systems.

Furthermore, the report finds that the ePA is already installed in every third doctor's practice, but is still only used by 22 per cent of patients. Eighty-one per cent of patients, however, would like to make use of their ePA.

WHY IT MATTERS

The TI as a central communication infrastructure of the German healthcare system networks all healthcare stakeholders and enables cross-organisational data exchange.

With ePA and e-prescription as first milestones in the area of user orientation in 2021, TI is aiming at federated identity management in the health sector which no longer focuses on the chip card, but on cardless, electronic identity management.

THE LARGER TREND

For the evaluation, gematik conducted representative surveys from the first and third quarters of 2021, and it was supported by the IGES Institute with data analysis.

In the first quarter of 2021, more than 13,700 healthcare professionals participated in the surveys, with a further 4,900 participants in the autumn. German hospitals, pharmacies and health insurance companies were also surveyed.

gematik, formerly known as Society for Telematics Applications of the Health Card, was founded in 2005 by leading organisations of the German healthcare system to build and advance the infrastructure around the electronic health card (eGK) and ensure interoperability of the components involved.

ON THE RECORD

Dr Markus Leyck Dieken, MD of gematik, said: "With our new publication, we are providing interesting and important insights into how the digitisation of healthcare in Germany is progressing within the framework of the telematics infrastructure. In this way, we are ensuring even more transparency in our work."

The TI Atlas is expected to be updated on an annual basis, and the first report can be found here.