1. Enable telemedicine on a wide scale

By lifting the 30 percent limit, legislators had planned to make telemedicine available on a larger scale. Contrary to this project, completely opposite measures are now being discussed: With the help of so-called quality rules, telemedicine services are to be restricted even more than before.

But measures such as limiting the number of cases for unknown patients or banning third-party providers from making appointments will in no way improve care. On the contrary, they will deny thousands of patients easy access to a medical assessment and further aggravate existing supply shortages.

The original political intent to make telemedicine more accessible must be taken seriously. Video consultations and other telemedicine services must be accessible via various providers, to every patient and at any time without arbitrary limits. This is the only way to ensure that telemedicine provides contract medical care in a timely manner — even when regional supply capacities are exhausted at certain points.

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2. Clear rules on reimbursement and remuneration

Video consultations have various health-economic benefits: They can organize patient advice and treatment more effectively and save time and effort by eliminating travel routes or waiting times. They can also enable doctors, therapists or nurses to continue working even with health restrictions or family involvement. These benefits must be recognized through clear remuneration regulations. The personal quantity limit must be lifted.

Equal remuneration for video consultation and on-site consultation:

Until now, doctors have had to accept a lump sum of up to 30 percent on the basic, insured and consulting lump sum for carrying out video consultations. This discrimination must be abolished. In order to anchor video consultations extensively in care, a new compensation structure must treat digitally conducted consultations on an equal footing with on-site consultations.

Supraregional budget for telemedicine: ‍

Telemedicine makes it possible to use supra-regional capacities more efficiently, for example by coordinating demand and capacities. As an incentive for doctors and other care providers to provide additional care capacities, a supraregional budget for telemedicine is needed: This should provide adequate and extrabudgetary remuneration without limiting the number of telemedicine services provided.

Different remuneration for acute and long-term care:

A new remuneration structure for tele-medical services should take into account the individual benefits of telemedicine for acute and long-term care and differentiate between the two forms. This is because video consultations can, on the one hand, relieve emergency outpatient clinics through initial assessment (acute care), but at the same time avoid unnecessary practice visits in the event of chronic illnesses (long-term care).

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3. Deletion of § 9 Therapeutic Products Advertising Act (HWG)

The existing advertising ban, which applies under Section 9 of the Therapeutic Products Advertising Act (HWG), prohibits doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals from providing information about their telemedicine services and thus prevents patients from being informed about this form of care. Section 9 HWG must be deleted without exception, as this is the only way to integrate video consultations and other telemedicine services across the board.

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4. Connection to TI and patient identification

Many telematics infrastructure (TI) services are currently only accessible in practice via connectors and can therefore not be used in conjunction with video consultations. Integration into the ePA is essential to integrate telemedicine and local care more closely. Telemedicine must therefore be urgently included in the development of TI. A technical process must be developed that enables patients to be identified even remotely and integrates telemedicine services into the ePA.

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Telemedicine will change everyday medical and nursing life: Video consultations, teleconsulating, and tele-emergency medical care have the potential to make care more efficient and accessible. They can support the networking of specialists and thus promote cooperative care approaches across sectors. These diverse benefits must also be recognized more strongly from a regulatory perspective, including through equivalent compensation models and the necessary technical infrastructure.