Telematics Infrastructure in the Care Sector

The electronic patient record for all, brings together key health data such as medical letters, data, and clinical findings in one place. For healthcare providers, it opens up new opportunities for efficient, secure, and cross-sector care delivery and documentation. The overarching aim is to sustainably improve care for insured persons.

The electronic medication plan provides a structured overview of the medicines a patient is currently taking. It also includes important additional information to help avoid adverse drug interactions. At present, the medication list within the ePA already offers an overview of all medicines prescribed for a patient.

Medical information that may be relevant in an emergency is stored directly on the chip of the patient’s electronic health card (eGK) using the Emergency Data Management system. In an emergency, all relevant information, such as detailed allergy information or urgently required medication, can be accessed. This function is voluntary.

Paper prescriptions are no longer required.Prescriptions are available digitally and can be redeemed at a pharmacy by reading the patient’s electronic health card (eGK) via a card terminal. Alternatively, e-prescriptions can be assigned to and redeemed at a pharmacy via an app. Digital redemption through online pharmacies is also possible.

In addition to prescriptions for prescription-only medicines, items such as dressings, blood and urine test strips, approved medical devices or dietary products for special medical purposes can in future also be prescribed digitally as electronic care orders via the Telematics Infrastructure.

The Qualified Electronic Signature enables legally secure digital signing of documents such as e-prescriptions, electronic care orders and electronic medical letters. The QES provides the highest level of security and legal validity for online signatures and is legally equivalent to a handwritten signature.

To ensure that digital messages and documents can be exchanged reliably across the healthcare system, all parties need to use the same secure platform. This role is fulfilled by KIM – secure healthcare messaging. In the care sector, this service is used for electronic billing, among other things.

As an alternative to communication via KIM, the TI Messenger is being established as a new standard. It enables instant messaging between care providers, healthcare professionals, and patients via smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. The same high level of security is ensured through end-to-end encryption.