Digital Act (DigiG) gives telemedicine a necessary boost

Telemedicine has the potential to sustainably improve care in Germany — while maintaining high medical quality. Among other things, it can help to compensate for supply shortages in rural areas or make high-quality medicine much more easily accessible to patients. We therefore see it as a positive sign that the new Digital Act (DigiG) is setting a significant course for telemedicine: The abolition of the 30 percent limit for telemedicine services marks a particularly important step that makes the permanent discrimination against this form of service a thing of the past. Instead of limiting compensation options across the quantity, as has been the case up to now, medical remuneration could be based on quality criteria, such as integration into other care or structured care processes.

We also regard the admission of new service providers, for example through assisted telemedicine in pharmacies, as an important step forward in relieving analog care through telemedicine offerings and sustainably improving access to care in rural regions. In order for telemedicine to be able to provide even greater added value in the future, we believe that the following adjustments are necessary:

Telemedicine is more than video consultations: The newly created regulations in DigiG should include all telemedicine services, including video case conferences, telemedicine consultations, radiological assessment of findings or telemedical monitoring, as well as telemedical interactions and functional checks.
Connection to a placement system: The KBV's planned interface for arranging telemedicine services must not exclude existing providers. It must not only be open to connecting all contract doctors, but also to all providers who already offer telemedicine services with their platforms and services.
Provide information about telemedicine: Effective promotion of telemedicine requires that information can be provided about these services. However, due to the advertising ban, as currently exists in § 9 HWG, this is not possible. Instead, this hinders the widespread introduction of telemedicine because it prohibits both family doctors and specialists, pharmacists and other service providers from providing information about their telemedicine services. The advertising ban and the associated Section 9 HWG must therefore be deleted.
Improved telemedicine services via selective contracts: To date, Section 140a SGB V provides that, insofar as diagnostic findings are made as part of digital care offerings, doctors must be included in the contracts for this purpose. In order to ensure care, particularly in rural regions and in view of demographic change, doctors from digital service providers should also be involved.

Telemedicine services can make a decisive contribution to solving the challenges of the future for society as a whole: Fewer and fewer doctors are already having to care for more and more patients. The new features for telemedicine included in DigiG mark important improvements: They give telemedicine the necessary boost so that it exists in the future as an integral part of digitally supported, sustainable care.

‍

Dignissim nisl varius scelerisque odio ornare gravida scelerisque lacus. Nulla sit nulla habitant diam eu tortor.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Arcu eget lectus eleifend vitae neque cursus cursus. Tellus ultrices sagittis fringilla libero enim. Et nunc faucibus est fames sed in. Mi bibendum vitae vel sit id sem mi. Nulla diam eu nibh faucibus ac faucibus tincidunt. Nisl egestas platea malesuada tortor ut. Duis tempus dolor feugiat laoreet auctor vestibulum. Eget duis sit dignissim scelerisque tempus. Quam augue vitae dictum felis gravida. Arcu enim est dui ullamcorper elit vivamus odio est volutpat.Et tellus dui aliquam elementum dignissim in tellus. Duis magna quam sem sit cras turpis eget convallis magna. Urna vel vel etiam in. Ornare tempor neque tempus amet a eu nec neque. Augue maecenas tempor et sed dui dictum quam. Montes facilisi dictumst at diam volutpat viverra mauris sit. Nibh magnis pellentesque commodo imperdiet accumsan id varius convallis. Id ut purus malesuada lectus faucibus magna nunc tellus ornare. Non pellentesque amet tempus ac commodo nullam. Urna fringilla phasellus ac felis diam. Pretium semper faucibus id vel tristique. Lacus lacus vitae et et quisque diam vitae sodales. Cras leo varius at aliquam. Mi condimentum orci sit eget sed integer nunc molestie cras.Dignissim nisl varius scelerisque odio ornare gravida scelerisque lacus. Nulla sit nulla habitant diam eu tortor. Lacus quam ultrices suspendisse condimentum suspendisse maecenas est sit at. Consectetur eu leo aenean ut. Laoreet varius at in nibh orci ac. Integer morbi in quam vulputate.Vestibulum eget libero pellentesque sit blandit pretium. Laoreet eget massa nulla quam aliquet mauris felis fusce eget. Pharetra volutpat faucibus in integer facilisis et scelerisque pulvinar. Tincidunt aliquet diam interdum amet scelerisque lectus neque scelerisque. Mattis nam elementum adipiscing viverra non ut purus lectus enim. Ultricies dolor sit lectus mattis amet. Enim volutpat ullamcorper metus magna egestas cras nisl. Laoreet accumsan tincidunt aliquam libero elementum malesuada elit varius. Ullamcorper fusce mauris ipsum sodales eu dignissim.Odio non et vivamus ultrices a. Libero accumsan non viverra adipiscing pellentesque. Ultrices bibendum dui fringilla sagittis at et adipiscing ultrices. Metus a commodo ut maecenas. Dui eget lectus eros ornare aliquam. Pulvinar amet dictum netus tristique tincidunt. Hendrerit felis pulvinar eget sem orci varius aliquet. Etiam aliquam cras arcu nibh dolor. Tincidunt vel turpis quis quis ornare sapien faucibus. Sed consectetur mattis aliquet posuere. Urna quam suspendisse orci eget. Mi pretium vivamus urna in tortor fermentum. Fames mi et vitae fringilla cursus. Pulvinar malesuada ornare nibh scelerisque sit. Egestas amet mattis ipsum orci quisque.

Text of this press release

Copy text