German Health Ministry Releases Strategy for Health and Care

Recently, Karl Lauterbach, German Federal Minister of Health, officially released the "Digitalisation Strategy for Health and Care" (referred to as the "Strategy" below). The German Federal Ministry of Health emphasized that modern medicine is based on digitization and data, and expressed hope that the "Strategy" could play a guiding role in nursing, data usage, as well as how technology can continue to develop to further improve healthcare by 2030.

Specific goals proposed by the "Strategy" include: by 2025, 80 percent of people with statutory health insurance should have electronic medical records (EHR); by the end of 2025, 80 percent of medication takers should have a digital overview of their medication; by the end of 2026, a new data center for health research should carry out at least 300 research projects using health data.

The "Strategy" puts forward action plans in three core areas: supply processes supported by digitalization, the use of health data, and benefit-oriented technology and applications.

It also proposes to establish a central office for data access and coordination, so as to make research data from various sources (such as cancer registries and health insurance data) accessible.

The health research data center will further develop, and research-oriented enterprises will be able to submit applications for data access there.

The German Federal Ministry of Health, together with representatives of patients covered by the healthcare system as well as relevant stakeholders, developed the digital strategy.

The German government will also formulate a digitalization act and a health data utilization act to improve daily treatment through digital solutions, and make health data available for research.