e-Prescription pilot to advance digital transformation in Germany

NIIS writes in their case study exploring the benefits of secure data exchange, that a project in the federal state of Hessen is currently piloting the creation of an electronic portal to manage digital prescriptions, paired with the increased usage of medical video consultations. Nortal, multinational strategic change and tech company from Estonia, took part in the consortium of actors that is making it possible, relying on its previous experience with secure data exchange in diverse contexts.

In November 2019, the German federal parliament approved the Digital Healthcare Act, a concrete stepping stone to fostering digital transformation in the country’s healthcare system. In a recent editorial on national newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, German Minister of Health Jens Spahn pointed out that trust in digital healthcare will grow as people experience first-hand how these solutions can improve their everyday life. The ongoing pilot project in Hessen aims to provide a practical, tested sample of this.

“The combination of a serious lag compared to the digital leaders and fresh, top federal leadership has forced the German establishment to switch gears. The pandemic has, of course, intensified these efforts, and has been extremely powerful in converting the opposition,” Taavi Einaste, CEO of Nortal Germany, adds on the topic. These premises, and Nortal’s expertise and business relations in the German market, enabled the Estonian tech company to take part in a consortium with billing and financial service provider Optica and start developing the German way to digital prescriptions.

Medical video consultations are a powerful tool whose increased usage can dramatically benefit patients. However, these provide real added value only if the preceding and following steps take place electronically too. To the end of improving their effectiveness, KV Hessen, doctors, health insurance firms and a consortium of IT companies developed the e-prescription portal MORE based on the relative Estonian blueprint.

After a video consultation takes place, when a digital prescription is issued to patients, they can manage it on the e-prescription portal MORE. With the option to forward it directly and electronically to a registered pharmacy, patients would have to move from their homes just to pick up the supplied medications.

Read NIIS’ full case study by Federico Plantera HERE.