The German Federal Cabinet has adopted the draft Law on Data and Digital Innovation in Healthcare (GeDIG). The aim of the law is to make more effective use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation in healthcare for both insured persons and healthcare providers, while further improving the use of health data for research, innovation and the provision of healthcare.
The draft law incorporates numerous elements of the coalition agreement and the further development of the digitalisation strategy for healthcare and nursing, “Gemeinsam Digital 2026” (Together Digital 2026). It includes measures covering almost all areas relevant to digitalisation.
Overall, the measures are expected to result in annual cost savings of approximately €445 million.
The main focus areas
An easy-to-use electronic patient record (ePA) with tangible benefits for healthcare providers and insured persons
Health insurance companies will have more scope for innovation in the development of the electronic patient record (ePA) and may supplement it with additional applications tailored to individual needs
The ePA will be expanded with various applications, including full-text search (from the beginning of 2027), a digital vaccination record with reminders about upcoming vaccinations (from mid-2027), and information on individually suitable clinical studies.
To simplify the further development of the electronic patient record (ePA) and improve its user-friendliness, more reliable implementation deadlines will be established for health insurance companies and providers of practice management systems.
In future, pharmacies and the ombudsman offices of health insurance companies will also support insured persons in using the ePA.
Digital elements for preparing the primary care system
- Electronic referrals will be introduced gradually by 1 September 2029. This will bring one of the last remaining paper-based processes into the digital age. It will also play an important role in the primary care system by enabling the automatic exchange of essential information between GPs and specialists.
- Under the primary care system, insured persons should be able to access healthcare digitally via the electronic patient record (ePA) app, in addition to accessing care through their GP and the 116117 hotline. Various services, including electronic referrals, digital appointment scheduling through the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, and a digital initial assessment of care needs, will be integrated into a user-friendly service. Further legislative steps for introducing these access channels are planned under the Primary Care Act.
- To make it easier for doctors to report available appointments to the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVen), the mandatory implementation of an interface in practice and appointment-management systems is planned. This will eliminate previously time-consuming reporting procedures.
- The parties to the federal framework agreement will define requirements for appointment-booking platforms. For example, insured persons should be able to rely on transparent and needs-based allocation of appointments.
More stability, less complexity – a high-performance telematics infrastructure (TI) and a stronger gematik
The use of the electronic health card (eGK) and digital identity as prerequisites for accessing healthcare will be simplified. In future, for example, replacing the eGK when changing address may no longer be necessary.
At the request of insured persons, secure digital communication between patients and doctors will be enabled via a secure messenger such as TI-M.
In future, gematik will be able to procure and provide services and applications required for the secure operation of the telematics infrastructure (TI) directly from the market. This will reduce the complexity of the TI and strengthen its reliability.
To further strengthen the operational stability of the TI, gematik will receive more extensive powers, including the withdrawal of licences, in relation to the licensing of providers and operators, as well as in preventing and remedying faults.
The legal framework for electronic prescriptions for home nursing care and therapeutic aids is being established. This will extend electronic prescribing beyond medicines to include therapeutic aids, such as speech and language therapy.
The Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians will be given greater opportunities to support contracted physicians with the digitalisation of their practices. This includes advice and support for digitalising treatment processes and practice management, as well as improving cybersecurity.
Communication between healthcare providers and with payers will be consistently digitalised. Secure email and messaging services, KIM and TI-M, will replace fax and paper-based documents.
In 2025, an average of 25 malfunctions per month occurred in applications within the telematics infrastructure. This is primarily due to its complexity. For each IT application or sub-application relating, for example, to the electronic patient record (ePA) or electronic prescription (e-prescription) within the telematics infrastructure, there are between two and more than 100 variants providing the same functionality but developed, supplied and updated by different vendors in accordance with gematik’s specifications.
Better data for better care and an innovative healthcare sector
One of the aims is to strengthen prevention by providing better information about appropriate health services, including simplified invitations to cancer screening programmes and the early identification of individual health risks.
The tasks, powers and purposes of data processing at the Research Data Centre for Health (FDZ) are being further developed. In selected cases, it will be possible in future to contact individual healthcare providers through an application to the FDZ. This could, for example, allow healthcare providers to identify and contact other practitioners dealing with similar cases without revealing the identities of insured persons.
Health insurance companies will be permitted to test innovative data-processing approaches in real-world laboratories for a limited period, for example to improve data-driven care or prevention.
The implementation of the EHDS Regulation will create the conditions for the data-protection-compliant secondary use of health data from across the healthcare sector for research, development and healthcare-system management.
Existing and emerging infrastructures will be further developed into a networked, Europe-wide health-data ecosystem. In particular, the Health Data Access and Coordination Centre at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) will be further developed. Other existing infrastructures will also take on roles as access points for health data within the EHDS-compliant health-data ecosystem.
Relevant data can then be made available in an EHDS-compliant manner through the interaction between the electronic patient record (ePA) and the Federal Data Centre for Health (FDZ Gesundheit). This will reduce the administrative burden on healthcare providers and health insurers.
