Current blood counts, previous illnesses, medications or the specialist's most recent examination report -- with the electronic patient record (ePA), all health data can be accessed via an app anywhere in the world. Since 1 January, the ePA has been available on a voluntary basis. It is provided free of charge by the health insurers in order to further digitise the health care system. Patient data is among the most sensitive, which is why every patient must make a conscious decision on the information to include in the app.

In the future, all an insured person's medical documents can be stored here centrally, so that everything can be accessed in one place. This central storage of all medical documents will avoid multiple examinations and speed up treatment processes. The expansion of the ePA will take place gradually.

What are the advantages of the ePA?

Initially, test results, doctor's reports, laboratory reports or X-rays will be available via the ePA. In the future, patients will also be able to digitally display vaccination cards, maternity cards or the dental bonus booklet via the ePA. Duplicate examinations, long preliminary consultations and, above all, mountains of paper should then largely become a thing of the past.
The constant availability of comprehensive health data will also ensure faster help in cases of illness or emergency. This comprehensive networking of the health care system will equally benefit all stakeholders -- patients, clinics and doctors' practices as well as health insurers.

When will the ePA be available to everyone?

Although people with statutory health insurance have been able to create an ePA since 1/1/2021, the ePA is still in a test phase and not accessible to most doctors' practices and hospitals. Doctor access to the ePA remains restricted during this phase.

However, the insured person can now upload documents the ePA the during the test phase and add material manually. The test phase is expected to be complete and all doctors connected from the second half of 2021. From then on, all medical documents will be stored in the patient's ePA directly by the doctor at the patient's request.

From 2022, it will be possible to digitally store documents such as vaccination records, the examination files and maternity records in the ePA. The ePA will, of course remain a voluntary service provided by the statutory health insurance funds to their insured patients. No one will be forced to use it.

How does the ePA work?

Every statutory health insurance fund provides its insured persons with a mobile application (app), allowing them to view their own ePA at any time. With a mobile device (smartphone or tablet), it is then possible to access your own ePA and see all your medical documents.

In addition to the option to view their data in the ePA from anywhere in the world, the insured persons also assign all authorisations themselves. This means that they alone decide which doctor or which doctor's practice or hospital may view the ePA and enter new documents. Doctors only have access to view or add to the ePA when this access has been granted. Authorisation can only be granted for the entire ePA currently. More targeted authorisation management is expected to be introduced from 2022.