Marcus Blumenthal-Beier, the head of the German General Practitioners’ Association, has strongly criticized the plans of the black-red coalition government to grant health insurers access to electronic patient records (ePA). He told Spiegel that this move represents a fundamental breakdown of trust and would further erode public confidence in the digitalization of the healthcare system. He argues that there should be no room for negotiation when it comes to the relationship of trust between a doctor and a patient.
Blumenthal-Beier contends that the government’s Digital Law directly contradicts its assurances that only patients and doctors should be able to view ePA data. In his view, this provision exponentially increases the influence of insurance companies over medical care. This power shift, he notes, raises the possibility of analyzing patient data, creating profiles, and targeting patients directly. The association chief stated that the politicians responsible do not seem to fully grasp what this policy decision is opening up.
While the cabinet resolution for the Digital Law stipulates that patients must consent for insurers to evaluate the ePA, the General Practitioners remain doubtful about how transparent or independent such a consent process can truly be. Blumenthal-Beier warns that the public must be explicitly informed of the massive consequences of their decision; a mere reference buried within standard terms and conditions cannot serve as an all-clear pass for companies to examine patients’ most private data.
