BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - General practitioners are counting on stable technical conditions for the launch of mandatory electronic prescriptions on January 1, 2024. "Every working day, practices in Germany issue over 1.5 million prescriptions," a spokesperson for the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians told the German Press Agency. "This has to work reliably and securely; after all, surgeries are not a digital test laboratory." The experience of the first few days will show whether the technical systems are stable enough to cope with the mass use of digital prescription issuing.

After years of delays, e-prescriptions are set to become standard for everyone in 2024. In mid-December, the Bundestag passed a law by the traffic light coalition that obliges practices to issue prescriptions electronically from January 1. The law is still to be finalized in the Bundesrat at the beginning of February. However, the ministry has already pointed out to healthcare stakeholders that the conditions for mandatory use will be met from January 1, 2024, meaning that it will take effect from then. The background to this is that, according to previous legislation, the obligation would actually have been in place from the beginning of 2022.

The consumer associations see many advantages for patients. Lucas Auer, a specialist at the federal association, told dpa: "The pharmacy can check in advance whether the medicine is in stock and order it if necessary." This saves unnecessary trips. There is also no more guesswork about illegible handwritten notes on prescriptions. In addition, follow-up prescriptions could be issued digitally without having to visit the practice again.

E-prescriptions can be filled in three ways instead of the usual pink slips of paper: By inserting the electronic health card from the health insurance company into a device at the pharmacy, via a special e-prescription app or with a printed QR code on paper./sam/DP/mis