English

Current information on the electronic patient record (ePA)

Dear patients, dear parents, from mid-January 2025, according to the will of the legislator in Germany, large numbers of electronic patient records are to be created as "central data ePA" for patients with insurance.

Like many other experts, we have very serious concerns about this and see it as a massive threat to medical confidentiality.

As doctors at the Karlstein family doctor´s office, we would very much like to see the introduction of a well-functioning ePA that is integrated into your insurance card and that will then effectively benefit you as a patient and the health care system in Germany. In contrast, the planned "central data ePA" seems to have the main goal of making your very sensitive health data available to large, international corporations such as Google, Meta and OpenAI for "research purposes". We consider this to be unethical, highly risky and also see it as a dissolution of medical confidentiality. That is why we do not want to work with a "central data ePA" in our family practice, because the relationship of trust between our patients and us is very important to us; it is the basis of our medical work.

As a person with statutory health insurance, you can only prevent the creation of a “central data ePA” for yourself and/or your children by actively objecting to it with your health insurance company. If you do not do this in time, the statutory health insurance companies will start creating electronic patient records for you from mid-January 2025, as required by law. It is still possible to delete a created ePA later upon request, but by then your health data may already have been evaluated by third parties. Good to know: It is legally stipulated that your objection to the ePA must not cause you any further disadvantages.

In order to prepare for the situation from January 2025, we are currently providing our patients with extensive information about this "central data ePA" and expressly recommend that all insured persons lodge this objection to the creation of an ePA. The options for objection are handled differently by each health insurance company. We want to support you as best as possible. That is why we have made information and sample forms available for download here. Please speak to us if you need further help and, if possible, help people in your circle of friends who are having difficulties with their objections, e.g. due to language barriers.

In the last few weeks, we have held a lot of information meetings with our patients in our practice about the "Central Data EPA". We therefore know that after receiving comprehensive information about the Central Data EPA, around 99% of our patients do not want to have an EPA created for themselves or their children at this point in time. That is why we will continue to optimize our practice processes for this large majority of our patients in our family practice in the future.

But we also know that unfortunately there are quite a few doctor's offices that are less critical of the "Central Data EPA". A "fee" of just over EUR 10 was agreed with the health insurance companies for the quick creation/initial filling of an ePA, so economic reasons can also play a role.

Of course, all patients are free to be convinced by this concept despite comprehensive information on the "central data ePA" and to want to use it for themselves and/or their own children. If central data ePA-centered care is an important goal for you, then this will probably be more appropriately implemented in "ePA doctor´s offices" in the future - i.e. where the treatment processes, data flows and administrative tasks are geared towards ePA use.

In our family practice, we want and will continue to use the medical working time available to us - and also the working time of our medical staff - primarily for the trustworthy medical treatment of our patients.

After you have lodged an objection to the ePA with your health insurance company, please bring the completed ePA declaration that you can download here [60 KB] with you on your next visit to our family medicine office - we will use this to document your wishes in this regard.

Thank you for your help - your team at the Karlstein family medical office