Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) /picture alliance, Bernd von Jutrczenka
Berlin – The Health Digital Agency Act (GDAG) has met with overwhelming approval from both the government coalition and the opposition. However, the Union warns against the emergence of double structures. The Left is calling for an electronic patient file (ePA) from the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).
It is generally to be welcomed that Gematik’s mandate is being strengthened by the conversion into a digital health agency provided for in the law, explained CDU health politician Erwin Rüddel yesterday evening at the first reading of the bill in the Bundestag.
It is the right way to strengthen the agency by bundling tasks. “But we have concerns about the dual structure of supervision and market participation,” he said. The new digital agency will de facto be the referee and the player at the same time. “A dual role that makes conflicts of interest almost unavoidable,” says Rüddel.
The proposed awarding practice also poses a risk that the innovative power of the private sector will be slowed down by government regulations. “We have to ensure that the best ideas emerge from competition,” he said.
The insufficiently defined procurement practice threatens that only a few providers will be approved for central applications, resulting in a concentration that increases the susceptibility to errors.
As a central coordinator, the digital agency must promote competition instead of positioning itself as a market participant. “We must not slow down the digital transformation of the healthcare system through misunderstood faith in the state,” warned Rüddel.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had previously explained his plans for Gematik with a view to the electronic patient record (ePA). Their introduction is a “breakthrough for our medicine”.
Ironically, the twenty-year failure to digitize the healthcare system has meant that Germany can now rely on a particularly modern structure when the ePA is introduced. “Here we have the grace of late birth, so to speak,” he said.
The reorganization of Gematik should now create the basis for all elements of the digital infrastructure to mesh together: “The Digital Agency Act is the law that is intended to ensure that the technology works quickly, securely and user-friendly in everyday life.”
For this purpose, the digital agency receives extended rights to not only check compliance with the specifications, but also user-friendliness. His group colleague Matthias Mieves agreed that this would lead to less time wasted due to crashes and other technical problems in the practices, which would mean more time was available for the patients.
The law should also make it easier for doctors to change providers based on these criteria, explained Green Party member Janosch Dahmen. It creates the conditions so that companies can no longer “blackmail doctors with oppressive contracts.”
The social democrat Mieves emphasized that the interoperability of practical software will also take a leap forward thanks to the new requirements. Until now it was as if you couldn’t write from an iPhone to a Samsung smartphone. That has to change. Then the structure for making appointments will work better.
The draft law also received general approval from the CSU, but criticized the plans it contained, according to which the digital agency should be able to procure central components, services and applications itself in a controlled market model via tendering procedures.
There is a risk that large companies in particular will come into play. “This endangers our medium-sized businesses,” criticized Emmi Zeulner. “That is why we reject this regulation in the law. We want the innovation to come from Germany and stay here with us.”
The FDP also announced that it would take a closer look at the further parliamentary process. The law is “a final milestone in the race to catch up in medicine and care,” explained the Liberals’ rapporteur for e-health, Maximilian Funke-Kaiser.
“But it’s no secret that government developments rarely have anything to do with user-friendliness,” he said. “In the end, it is still the companies that program the best applications.” That is why we will pay close attention to ensuring that the best conditions are created for this.
The Left demands the opposite. There was an expensive 20-year standstill in the digitalization of the healthcare system, which was followed by haphazard activism, “because digitalization works neither through the free market nor through stalemate in self-administration,” explained Anke Domscheidt-Berg.
Instead of a market model, the BMG must provide a central ePA app for the entire healthcare system. “The ePA is not suitable as a marketing tool for health insurance companies,” she emphasized. © lau/aerzteblatt.de
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