Germany set to introduce electronic patient cards despite doctors’ opposition

Electronic health cards are finally scheduled to be introduced in April in parts of Germany. But Germany’s doctors—who have been adamantly opposed to e-cards from the start—are still voicing resistance.

Initially the cards will contain only patients’ emergency data, but eventually they will include patients’ prescriptions and medical records, which will be stored on central servers.

The German Medical Association issued a press release earlier this month that claimed that patient data stored on central servers would not be secure and would be open for commercial exploitation. “Patients are not commercial products,” the press release declared. A few days earlier the medical association of the state of Hesse warned, “Big …