This is how the recipe works via smartphone app

Digitization in Germany is slowly picking up speed. The prescription from the doctor in the form of the pink-colored piece of paper will soon be replaced by the e-prescription. GIGA explains how the digital recipe works, which app you need and when to start.

After an initial test phase in Berlin and Brandenburg, the e-prescription was introduced in many other medical practices in Germany from October 1, 2021. However, the prescription in app format is not yet mandatory, so the pink paper slip will continue to be issued.

This is how the digital e-prescription via app works

Actually, by the turn of the year, all medical practices should be legally obliged to only issue pharmacy-only medicines by e-prescription. However, a start at the targeted time was not possible. New start date for electronic prescriptions in Germany should now be September 1, 2022 be. Until then, the system is to be introduced in stages.

Even if you don’t have a smartphone, you can of course still get your medication. This is how the e-prescription works:

1. You need the corresponding app. The application can be downloaded free of charge from the “Google Play Store” for Android and from the App Store for iPhones. Also HUAWEI users without Play Store access will receive the app. When downloading, make sure to use the developer’s application “Gematik GmbH‘ to avoid installing a fake app with a similar name.
2. For the app you need at least Android 7 or iOS 14. In order to be able to use the full range of functions, your smartphone should also be able to use NFC.
3. To log in to the app, you need your health card and the associated PIN. You get the PIN from the health insurance company. However, you can also show prescriptions to the pharmacy without registering. With a login, further functions are available, for example direct contact with the pharmacy via the app or detailed information on the prescription.
   

   

4. The e-prescription will created by the doctor and encrypted in the health network.
5. You can then use the app access the recipe.
6. In the pharmacy you just show it E-prescription code on your smartphone to receive your medication.
7. Alternatively you can Redeem digital prescription online at the pharmacy. You choose whether you want to pick up the medication later yourself or have it delivered by courier. Some pharmacies also allow you to order medicines online and have them delivered to your home. It can also be redeemed online at mail order pharmacies.

The digital recipe works only with the Gematik app. Health insurance apps with an e-prescription function are not permitted by law.

How does the e-prescription work without a smartphone?

Who doesn’t have a smartphone can print out and show the code for the prescription. If you don’t have a printer at home, your doctor should print it out for you. The printed code can also be redeemed for you by others. Alternatively, codes can be scanned in the app so that your friends, partners or helpers can pick up the medication for you.

Also exciting, the new emergency call app:

Even with the digital prescription, no pharmacy is prescribed. So you can still decide freely where to get your medication. You can use the search function in the app to display pharmacies nearby. The prescription data is not automatically transferred to a patient record or other applications. For the future, however, an exchange with the e-patient file should be made possible.

Hopefully the e-prescription via app will run better than the “digital driver’s license”:

Will the e-prescription become mandatory?

The e-prescription should from January 1, 2022, it will be mandatory for everyone with statutory health insurance for dispensing all pharmacy-only medicines. However, due to technical gaps, the introduction was postponed postponed indefinitely. As a rule, there will no longer be a “pink” note. Prescriptions in the old paper format should only be issued in exceptional cases or in the event of system failures.

Whether and how the e-prescription from privately insured can be used is currently being clarified. In the first introductory phase, e-prescriptions are only to be issued for drugs that are only sold in pharmacies. For the future, so should the digital recipe for “green recipes”narcotics and digital health applications.

If you have already been to the doctor once in the current quarter and had your insurance card scanned there, you can also get digital prescriptions via the app, without going back to the practice to have to. Subsequent recipes should appear directly in the e-recipe app. In the app you can quickly see how long a prescription is still valid and redeem it in good time before it expires.