E-Rezept: pharmacies complain about long waiting times

The super disaster that many had feared for the E-Rezept has so far failed to materialize. However, there are still a few teething troubles to criticize. There are currently increasing complaints that the healthcare network is experiencing long response times. This is not only due to faults in the telematics infrastructure.

E-Rezept on the road to success

When the e-prescription was launched on September 1, 2022, health insurance companies, pharmacies and doctors were primarily sceptical. However, almost a year and a half after the digital prescription of medicines was released, the system can be judged cautiously positively. At least that is the conclusion drawn from initial statistics. After all, the number of German pharmacies that accept more than half of their prescriptions as e-prescriptions is just under 40 percent. This represents a huge leap, especially compared to the end of 2023. However, the large number of e-prescriptions in use also appears to be a real burden on the IT infrastructure around it.

This is the result of a survey conducted by the German Pharmacists’ Association (ABDA). It found that there are still “major technical implementation problems”. At worst, these could even pose a risk to patients, as the required prescriptions have simply not yet arrived at the pharmacy electronically. Conversely, the pharmacy may not issue the required medication. The survey shows that more than two thirds of the 1,100 pharmacies surveyed have already been affected by this problem.

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Batch signature as a problem?

According to ABDA, in addition to a slightly overburdened telematics infrastructure, the so-called batch signature could also be a cause of the problem. Here, doctors place their required signature in batches under a whole group of e-prescriptions. If the timing is bad, this means that the e-prescription has not yet been received by the pharmacy when the patient visits it directly after seeing the doctor. The medication cannot then be collected. One solution to the problem could be for every requested e-prescription to be signed immediately. There is currently no obligation to do so. However, this procedure is recommended by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, for example. It is therefore clear that although the e-prescription works well, there is still room for improvement.