Pharmacy staff express dissatisfaction over issues in the electronic prescription system
Germany's E-Prescription System Faces Reliability Issues
Germany's digital healthcare system, particularly the e-prescription system, has been facing significant reliability issues in recent months. In the past two weeks alone, there have been five days with major outages affecting tens of thousands of patients each time [1][2].
The e-prescription system, which aims to make the process more efficient, has been experiencing frequent failures or instability. Between late May and early June 2025, disruptions occurred on eight out of fourteen days, seriously impacting access to electronic prescriptions [3]. Additionally, partial outages of the broader telematics infrastructure supporting e-prescriptions have affected related services like electronic patient records [4].
These outages have raised strong concerns among pharmacists and patient advocacy groups. Thomas Preis, head of the Federal Association of Pharmacists, has stated that the e-prescription system is outpacing Deutsche Bahn in terms of unreliability [1][2]. Pharmacists have also called for more operational flexibility to allow pharmacies to supply medications quickly during system downtimes [2].
To improve stability and transparency, proposed measures include implementing an early warning system ("daily E-prescription radar") to notify doctors promptly if the system is operational or if paper prescriptions should be used instead [1]. Additionally, there are calls for Gematik, the responsible society, to publish monthly reports on system outages and their causes to increase accountability [1]. Investigations are also being considered into liability and potential compensation mechanisms for losses due to disruptions [4].
Gematik has acknowledged some disruptions, attributing many outages to problems caused by external service providers. However, no detailed long-term remediation plan is widely reported yet [3][4].
As of January 2024, the e-prescription for prescription medications will be mandatory. However, those who wish can still receive the prescription as a paper printout.
In a recent call, Eugen Brysch, a board member of the German Foundation for Patient Protection, demanded a "daily e-prescription radar" to inform doctors of system function [1]. The Foundation has also emphasized the need for improved reliability in the e-prescription system.
While the digitization of the healthcare system is inevitable, the current unreliability of the e-prescription system is unacceptable. Stakeholders emphasize the urgency of significantly enhancing system reliability to ensure patient safety, operational continuity, and trust in the digital healthcare infrastructure in Germany [1][2][3][4]. In the meantime, pharmacies need more flexibility to still serve patients during outages.
[1] https://www.deutschland.de/magazin/e-rezept-probleme-digitalisierung-gesundheitswesen-2025-06-02-705482 [2] https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/gesundheit/e-rezept-probleme-in-deutschland-100.html [3] https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesundheit/e-rezept-in-deutschland-probleme-mit-der-digitalisierung-11123448.html [4] https://www.wdr.de/nachrichten/gesundheit/e-rezept-ausfall-probleme-digitalisierung-100.html
Science and technology play a pivotal role in Germany's digital healthcare system, especially with regards to the e-prescription system. However, medical-conditions and health-and-wellness have been impacted as the system faces reliability issues, causing operational disruptions that affect both doctors and patients [1][2][3][4].
