Pharmacies remain the point of contact for every prescription
The e-prescription can easily be brought to your local pharmacy with your insurance card (Image source: © ABDA)
Stuttgart – Since the turn of the year, patients have increasingly received an e-prescription with their prescribed medication in their doctor’s office. As of January 1st, electronic prescriptions were also made mandatory for doctors. “Pharmacies have been able to process the e-prescriptions since autumn 2022 and have already gained some experience in the last few months,” reports Friederike Habighorst-Klemm, member of the board and patient representative of the Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association.
There are three ways to use the e-prescription
-If you want, you can still get a paper printout of your prescription as a so-called token. This is a paper printout with various codes that work like a key. When these codes are scanned at the pharmacy, the pharmacy can access the prescription issued by the doctor and dispense the medicines.
-Since summer 2023, the e-prescription can also be easily redeemed at the pharmacy using the electronic health card (eGK). The insurance card also acts as a key. However, the e-prescription is not stored on the insurance card, as many believe. When the insurance card is inserted into the reader at the pharmacy, the pharmacy team uses this key to access the issued prescription and can dispense the prescribed medication as usual.
-Otherwise, the e-prescription can be received via the gematik e-prescription app. To do this, patients must download the app on a smartphone and log in with their insurance card and a separate PIN.
Pharmacies can help with e-prescriptions
Friederike Habighorst-Klemm emphasizes: “Nobody has to be afraid of the new technology. If you don’t want to or can’t use a smartphone or an app for the e-prescription, you can just stick to a paper printout or use the insurance card.” With the insurance card, you don’t need a PIN or other documents for authorization. This means family members can also get medication for older or bedridden relatives and help them. The pharmacist continued: “The existing three redemption methods allow everyone, even in the new year, to choose the method that is most convenient. The e-prescription – no matter which redemption method is chosen – simply belongs in the local pharmacy!”
The easiest way is via the health card
In practical life, the redemption method via the health card has proven to be the most practical. Thanks to the health card, the number of e-prescriptions has increased significantly since August 2023. In August 2023 alone, an average of around 100,000 e-prescriptions per week were redeemed in pharmacies. The number then rose quickly: by the end of 2023, around 18 million e-prescriptions had already been redeemed. This is reported by gematik, which as the National Agency for Digital Medicine is entrusted with the implementation of e-prescriptions and other digital applications for the healthcare system.
If you as a patient want to find out more about e-prescriptions, you can use the following link: www.das-e-rezept-ist-da.de/
Image source: © ABDA
The Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association e. V. is committed to providing independent advice to patients, health prevention and the safe dispensing of medicines. There are around 2,300 public pharmacies in Baden-Württemberg. The association represents the economic and political interests of its members. In addition to licensed pharmacists, around 15,000 specialists, mostly women, work full-time or part-time in the country to ensure the well-being of patients. The Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association e. V. is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001: 2015.
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Contact
Baden-Württemberg State Pharmacists Association
Frank Eickmann
Hölderlinstr. 12
70174 Stuttgart
0711/22334-77