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The Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) has just given the go-ahead for the Digital Care and Nursing Modernization Act, or DVPMG for short, to ensure that detailed changes made by the Federal Ministry of Health do not lead to important innovations and improvements being contravened, raising questions about legal disputes. These include, above all, the ban on tampering with electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions) and several other regulations.

Section 11 of the German Pharmacy Act (ApoG) states that „permit holders and staff of pharmacies (…) shall not enter into any legal transactions or agreements with physicians and other persons engaged in the treatment of diseases, or with third parties, which have as their object the preferential supply of certain medicinal products, the feeding of patients, the assignment of prescriptions or the production of medicinal products without full disclosure of their composition.“ The same also applies to EU mail-order pharmacies. This paragraph is explicitly extended to all prescriptions in the electronic form to avoid misunderstandings and scope for interpretation.

Furthermore, according to Jens Spahn, the further update will also advance the TI’s further development to adapt connectors and gematik services to the different needs of users. From January 2023, those insured by health insurance funds will be entitled to their digital identity. This will be consolidated one year later with a special authentication procedure. Gematik will define all this in the TI 2.0 it is aiming for.

In addition, the e-medication plan is planned as a standalone IT application by July 1, 2023, so that storage on the electronic health card (eGK) will no longer be necessary. Among physicians, however, the new regulation is causing displeasure and massive resistance from the German Medical Association on behalf of its president, Dr. Klaus Reinhardt, who even wants to postpone the introduction of electronic prescribing. In the case of digital appointment scheduling and telemedicine services, the update sees not only physicians but also healthcare providers and midwives as well as the on-call service of SHI-accredited physicians as having a duty to join in.

Source: www.apotheke-adhoc.de