From January 2022, only e-prescriptions will be prescribed in Germany. In the meantime, there is a clear timetable according to which the associations involved are to provide contracts for the electrical prescription of remedies and aids as early as the end of the year. By June 30, 2021, Gematik must have completed all technical requirements for the use of electronic prescriptions, including an app. So far, however, there is no nationwide infrastructure, but rather various model projects of various health insurance companies and pharmacists. For example, the Patient Data Protection Act stipulates that Gematik is building a standard app for the use of the e-prescription, in which the prescription is uploaded and pharmacies can be searched for redemption. In addition, patients will be able to forward their prescriptions from the Gematik app to apps from other service providers in order to use other services.
In the context of this further performance option, various providers and objectives are currently crystallizing. The „Pro AvO“ alliance (Pro Apotheke vor Ort) from the Noventi group, Wort & Bild publishing house, Autmaten manufacturer Rowa, and the dealers Gehe and Sanacorp, are already working on an app called Apora. Managing Director Peter Menk announced that the alliance would launch an app including a web portal with pharmacy listing and courier service at the beginning of next year.
In competition to this, the „Future Pharmacy Pact“, to which Netdoktor, the tech service provider Apostore and the wholesaler Pharam Privat now also belong, already offers a platform for pre-ordering medicines including prescription scanning. According to media reports, however, the Future Pact is not planning to develop its own apps, but to connect to existing infrastructures.
To this end, the Techniker Krankenkasse has already processed 700 electronic prescriptions in its app. While the redemption of e-prescriptions has so far only been available regionally, up to 40,000 physicians in private practice throughout Germany are expected to join in the course of this month. Likewise, all TK-insured persons can now use medical video consultation hours.
With its mail-order pharmacy Doc Morris, the Swiss Zur Rose Group is also working on its own platform and e-prescription app, which in the form of a „marketplace“ will offer services such as online consultation hours and OTC sales from a single source.
In addition to many other model projects, two tenders of Gematik are attracting attention. On the one hand, a service provider for the handling of the e-prescription services. On the other hand, there will be a kind of customer service where patients can ask questions about electronic prescriptions. Gematik is not yet clear when the contracts for these tenders will be awarded.
Source: pharamzeutische-zeitung.de