Disgruntled pharmacy staff voicing concerns over malfunctions in the digital prescription platform
In recent weeks, the e-prescription system in Germany has faced frequent disruptions, downtime, and system unreliability, causing significant problems for pharmacies and patients. Pharmacies have reported multiple days of complete outages or major disruptions, affecting tens of thousands of patients and delaying medication supply [1].
The German Foundation for Patient Protection has demanded an immediate end to the "era of the black box e-prescription" and has called for an early warning system to inform doctors of system functionality [2]. Eugen Brysch, board member of the foundation, has also demanded a "daily e-prescription radar" to keep doctors informed [3].
The head of the Federal Association of Pharmacists, Thomas Preis, compared the e-prescription system's unreliability to that of Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway [1]. He emphasised the need for urgent improvements to the system’s stability and reliability.
To address these issues, several measures have been proposed. The primary focus is on enhancing the technical stability and uptime of the e-prescription infrastructure by Gematik, the responsible society for the system [3]. This would help reduce outages and improve the system’s overall reliability.
Another proposed measure is providing contingency options for pharmacies. These options would allow them to dispense medications even when the e-prescription system is down, thus reducing patient risk during disruptions [3].
The digitization of the healthcare system will continue, with an emphasis on robust security, compliance with legal standards, and improved customer trust, especially in expanding online pharmacy services [4]. Investment in the healthcare IT infrastructure is also encouraged as part of wider health system modernization initiatives, which include mandates for hospital system upgrades and comprehensive digital adoption [4].
The goal of the e-prescription system is to provide more comfort and reduce trips to the doctor's office. With the e-prescription system, follow-up prescriptions can be issued without a repeat patient visit, and manual signatures and trips are eliminated [5]. Patients can also choose to receive their prescriptions as a paper printout if they prefer [5].
Gematik has admitted that there have been components and services affected by recent disruptions [6]. They are continuously working to improve the system’s reliability and stability [7]. The e-prescription system is mandatory as of January 2024 [1].
In conclusion, stakeholders are calling for a more dependable digital prescription system paired with pragmatic fallback procedures to maintain patient care continuity in case of technical failures [1][3][4]. The focus is on improving the system’s reliability, providing contingency options for pharmacies, and continuing the digitization with an emphasis on robust security, compliance, and improved customer trust.
[1] https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/e-rezept-stirbt-nicht-immer-ab-weil-die-technik-versagt/27404002.html [2] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/2023-03-22/german-patient-protection-group-calls-for-early-warning-system-for-e-prescription-system [3] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/2023-03-22/german-pharmacists-urge-agency-to-improve-e-prescription-systems-reliability [4] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/2023-03-22/german-pharmacists-urge-agency-to-improve-e-prescription-systems-reliability [5] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/2023-03-22/german-pharmacists-urge-agency-to-improve-e-prescription-systems-reliability [6] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/2023-03-22/german-pharmacists-urge-agency-to-improve-e-prescription-systems-reliability [7] https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/2023-03-22/german-pharmacists-urge-agency-to-improve-e-prescription-systems-reliability
- The German Foundation for Patient Protection has stressed the importance of integrating the latest advancements in science, technology, and health-and-wellness for the development of a reliable e-prescription system.
- With the aim of ensuring medical-conditions management despite digital disruptions, proposals have been made to implement early warning systems and contingency options in the e-prescription infrastructure as part of a broader technology investment and health system modernization.
