SpiFa demands a sustainable strategy, a clear concept and usable hardware
25.04.2022 09:46
The leading association of medical specialists in Germany (SpiFa) clearly criticizes the plans to replace the connectors and instead calls for a clear concept for digitalization in the healthcare system.
“Health care facilities must not be digital test laboratories just to open the healthcare market for digital solutions and products,” says SpiFa in the current position paper on health issues in the coalition agreement. The SpiFa is primarily directed against the premature introduction and regulation for the future use of eAU and ePrescription, but the planned exchange of 130,000 connectors is also causing dissatisfaction among medical specialists.
“First, doctors' practices are forced to have a poorly functioning TI with an outdated connector system, which now has to be replaced - unchanged - at high cost. Spending an estimated 350 million euros on this is sheer madness, since the software solution will be available in two years. This is not how you should handle the money of those insured in the healthcare system,” said Dr. Norbert Smetak, SpiFa board member and chairman of the SpiFa Digitalization Committee. Especially in the wake of the discussion about the blatant deficits in healthcare financing, SpiFa believes that spending such a high amount on the temporary maintenance of an outdated and error-prone digital infrastructure is not justified.
“Then you experiment with eAU and ePrescription, take the latter back, initially don’t get things going on the health insurance side as far as the eAU is concerned and now ultimately blame the doctors who are really doing everything they can to ensure care during the pandemic and of course also the eAU “To keep things going,” Smetak continued.
In the course of the ongoing discussion, SpiFa is calling for a sustainable strategy and the development of functioning and adequate solutions, which are based on the needs of patients and doctors and are also extensively tested for practical suitability and operational safety before their introduction.