In Hesse, in the Rhine-Main region there, a model project based on the Estonian model is just starting up, in which the medical on-call service of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVH), in cooperation with three large health insurance companies such as the AOK Hesse, the DAK-Gesundheit and the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) in Hesse, offers video consultation hours paired with e-prescription exhibitions. The Hessian Pharmacists‘ Association (HAV) with currently 100 participating pharmacies on-site as well as the billing and IT service provider Optica, which is responsible for the technical implementation of the pilot project, are also involved. The service company Optica is supported by the Estonian IT system house Nortal, which has many years of experience with such complex systems. Digital consultation hours are a blessing for patients who, for example in times of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic with cold-like symptoms, would come to the medical on-call service or to practices. However, the symptoms the patient is currently experiencing must be predestined for video telephony. The users of the digital consultation hours must be able to provide and operate a computer, smartphone or tablet. They must also register if they are over 18 years of age and legally competent, and this also applies to e-prescription. A further requirement is that the patients are insured with one of the three participating health insurance companies. The e-prescription can then be managed via the so-called e-prescription portal called „More“. The currently 100 participating pharmacies – the concept is to be expanded throughout Hesse in the near future – are also required to have completed a registration on the ePrescription portal if they wish to enter into the cooperation. Pharmacists can find detailed information on this via the HAV. Patients with symptoms such as colds or skin rashes, which can be easily diagnosed by video telephony, will thus be spared long distances to the doctor and pharmacist with personal forwarding of the prescription in paper form. This ensures comprehensive and long-term care. Furthermore, the reduction of personal contacts will improve the quality of future health care in Germany, of which the Chairman of the Board of KVH, Frank Dastych, and other comrades-in-arms of the cooperation partners are fully convinced.
