Lauterbach: E-prescription arrives from July 1st

Berlin. According to Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions) should be possible from July 1st. “The e-prescription is finally suitable for everyday use,” said the SPD politician to the editorial network Germany.

“From July 1, 2023, patients will be able to easily access e-prescriptions in pharmacies with their insurance card for the first time. By the end of July, 80 percent of pharmacies in Germany are expected to be connected to the system.” Lauterbach added: “When the patients insert their insurance cards into the readers in the pharmacies, the e-prescription is already in the
database before. Digitization is now starting.”

End “paper economy in health care”.

According to the Ministry of Health, the aim of the e-prescription is, among other things, to simplify processes in the doctor’s office and pharmacy and to end “also the paper economy in the healthcare system”. In addition, drug treatment should become safer.

The start of electronic prescriptions had been delayed several times. Last autumn, further steps were put on hold in the only pilot region in Westphalia-Lippe.

At the beginning of March, Lauterbach announced that it would significantly accelerate the sluggish spread of digital applications. Germany’s healthcare system is decades behind in digitization, he said. E-prescriptions should become suitable for everyday use across the board.

According to the ministry, the e-prescription can be used in various ways. For example, patients could decide whether they want to manage their e-prescription on their smartphone using a secure e-prescription app and send it digitally to a pharmacy, or whether the access data required to redeem the e-prescription should be handed over to them as a paper printout in the doctor’s practice should be.