Overview

• The electronic patient record (ePA) will be introduced in test regions on January 15, 2025, before a nationwide rollout by March, with an opt-out system for Germany's 74 million insured citizens.
• The ePA aims to centralize medical records, reduce redundant tests, and improve diagnoses, while integrating data from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies into a unified digital system.
• Critics, including IT experts and medical professionals, have raised concerns about security vulnerabilities, data privacy risks, and usability challenges, such as long loading times and limited search functionality.
• Patient data will be stored on secure servers in Germany and can be accessed via a smartphone app, though older or less tech-savvy users may face difficulties in managing their records.
• The system will also feed anonymized data into a national research center and potentially the EU's health data space, raising further debates about data protection and ethical concerns.