Since the legalization of Digital Health Applications (DiGA) in 2020, statutory health insurance funds have spent 400 million euros on these “prescription health apps”. According to a report from the GKV (statutory health insurance funds), which was covered by Funke Media Group’s newspapers (Sunday editions), these apps have been prescribed approximately 1.6 million times up until the end of 2025.
However, the report also points out systemic issues. It notes that the assessment of the benefit provided by DiGA still requires improvements. Out of the total 74 DiGA entered into the DiGA directory, fewer than one in five was able to demonstrate a tangible benefit upon inclusion. Furthermore, 16 DiGA were completely removed from the benefit catalog because they could not prove any benefit for patient care. By the end of 2025, only 58 DiGA were included in the GKV benefit catalog, meaning that about a fifth of the products initially added were excluded due to lack of proven utility.
The pricing structure of the apps is also criticized by the GKV as a “structural” problem. The current regulations allow manufacturing companies to unilaterally set the price for their DiGA during the first year at any amount. This arbitrary pricing is notably independent of whether the app has already demonstrably proven its benefit.
Stefanie Stoff-Ahnis, Deputy Chairwoman of the GKV Association, stated that the importance of prescription apps in healthcare is growing. She pointed to not only the increasing number of prescriptions but also the fact that more than half of the applications initially used for testing were subsequently added permanently to the DiGA directory, having thus proven their value to patients. Despite this, she added that most DiGA are still initially included in the GKV benefit catalog without any proof of benefit, yet they must still be financed by the health insurers at manufacturer-set prices, which can be arbitrarily high.
Faced with these problems, the GKV is calling for “political corrections” and insists that a demonstration of benefit must be required from the outset. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices is responsible for testing these apps.
