Overview

• Germany’s mandatory E-Rezept system experienced complete failures or significant impairments on five separate days over the past two weeks, halting nationwide e-prescription services.
• Thomas Preis, head of the ABDA, warned that the system has become more unreliable than Deutsche Bahn and insisted that Gematik must substantially improve its stability.
• Each outage blocked access to electronic prescriptions for tens of thousands of patients, with care-dependent and immobile individuals facing the most severe consequences.
• Pharmacies are calling for greater contingency powers to dispense necessary medications during digital downtimes without reverting to paper workflows.
• Eugen Brysch of Stiftung Patientenschutz urged Health Minister Nina Warken to require Gematik to issue a public monthly outage report and to provide real-time alerts to medical practices.