On July 1 this year, Germany’s health system will see its major health insurers agreeing to assume costs of co-called ‘Videosprechstunden’ (video consultations), as a part of the new e-health law which came into effect on January 1 of this year. The video consultation innovation is just one of many measures in the law, which will feed innovations into the system incrementally over the next three years. Digital health is a huge subject in Germany. The global market is expected to double in size to a value of around $200bn by 2020. In Germany alone, the sector is expected to generate sales of €400m this year. The new law has gone to some lengths to try and solve many of the practical challenges of moving from the classic system to the newer, slicker and more cost-efficient one. The largest hurdles have involved data security and accurately being able to divide up the costs and benefits between the stakeholders, with both aspects now extensively addressed with measures such as rewarding doctors for paperless paperwork, or for good maintenance of data within a national database, allowing emergency doctors to know the medical history of who they are dealing with that much faster. Given the accelerating pace of digitalisation in Germany, innovative digital companies are naturally intent on penetrating the market. A host of products and companies are ready to go, but regulatory progress – understandably considering the potentially sensitive nature of so much of the data – has been slower than technology’s rapid change. “The e-health law represents a healthy, structured move towards a clear and achievable vision of a fully functioning e-health market,” said Julia Rühle, manager digital health at Germany’s federal economic development agency Germany Trade & Invest. Lu oversees the content for all of the publications within the Rapid Life Sciences portfolio, which includes Digital Health Age, Medical Plastics News, Med-Tech Innovation Magazine and European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer. Reach Lu at lu.rahman@rapidnews.com
Germany's major health insurers will bear the costs of "videosprechstunden" (video consultations) as part of e-health legislation that came into effect on this year. It is part of a raft of measures aimed at moving to a digital system, which includes rewarding doctors for using paperless documentation and good maintenance of data within a national database. While many companies have been eager to develop the sector, set to be worth €400m ($437m) 1 January, regulatory progress, especially regarding the handling of sensitive data, has slowed adoption.