Instead of making everything easier, German pharmacies are complaining that e-prescriptions are causing them a lot of headaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
German E-prescription system beset by disruptions and downtime<\/p>\n
The head of the German pharmacists\u2019 association, Thomas Preis, has called on the federal digital agency Gematik to urgently improve the stability of the e-prescription system, saying that it has been beset by disruptions and downtime in recent weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe e-prescription is outperforming Deutsche Bahn in terms of unreliability,\u201d Preis told the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND)<\/a>. \u201cA cancelled train is annoying, but an unavailable e-prescription can have significant consequences for people\u2019s health.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Although e-prescriptions were first introduced in 2023<\/a>, they became mandatory in January 2024. The system is designed to be simpler than the old paper prescriptions<\/a>: after a visit to their GP<\/a>, a patient should be able to simply present their health insurance card<\/a> at the pharmacy, or use the e-prescription app (E-Rezept App) and send it to their chosen pharmacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, the system has been beset by a swathe of problems that seem to be intensifying in recent weeks. Preis said that in the last two weeks alone, there have been five days of complete outages or significant disruptions to the e-prescription system, each time affecting tens of thousands of patients.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pharmacies ask for more flexibility to provide medications during downtime<\/p>\n