General practitioner and specialist contracts from AOK Baden-Württemberg: Electronic networking with clinics starts
01.12.2021 12:18
With the specialist application "electronic admission and discharge letter" (eEE), the electronic doctor networking (eAV) of the selective contract partners is now being expanded to include digital networking between hospitals and practices. Participating clinics at the start are the Heidelberg University Hospital and the RKH Clinics Ludwigsburg-Bietigheim , who were also involved in the test phases with referring general practitioners and specialists from the regions. The aim is to exchange care-relevant information in a structured and secure manner between hospitals and general practitioners.
The e-instruction letter from general practitioners and specialists is embedded in existing IT processes and is generated directly from the contract software. The data from the e-admission letter can be further processed electronically so that hospitals can automatically transfer it into their clinical information system. The discharge letter created by the clinicians is automatically made available for electronic retrieval, so that there are no procedural changes. For practices and hospitals, the eEE can save valuable time, improve information flow and quality and help avoid unnecessary double examinations.
The CEO of AOK Baden-Württemberg, Johannes Bauernfeind, explains: “There is a great need for action and modernization, especially in the area of intersectoral communication. Currently, the normal case is for the discharge letter to be sent by post or fax or for the patient to bring it with them themselves. With the experience and technical know-how of four functional eAV specialist applications, we are now introducing a secure and simple electronic transmission path that relieves the burden on everyone involved and is intended to improve intersectoral communication and supply.”
The e-instruction letter contains defined content that can be taken over in a structured manner from the doctor's information system (AIS). This includes: the reason for the referral/admission, diagnoses, previous illnesses and medication. As with the e-doctor's letter, the signature is carried out using a convenient signature via a doctor's certificate, so that a password only has to be entered once a day. The contractual partners AOK Baden-Württemberg, the Association of General Practitioners and MEDI Baden-Württemberg rely on the proven integration, as with the four eAV specialist applications implemented so far (eAU, eArztbrief, HAUSKOMET and dermatological teleconsiles). in AIS and the secure transmission technology using the HZV online key. With T2med, Duria, Tomedo, Quincy, S3 Praxiscomputer, Indamed, DataAL, Pro-Medico, Hausarzt+/Praxiis 4 More and Abasoft, ten AIS providers have so far announced the implementation at the start of the eEE.
Dr. Werner Baumgärtner, CEO of MEDI Baden-Württemberg and MEDI GENO Germany, comments: “In the general practitioner and specialist contracts, we use our regional scope to advance the sensible and secure digitalization of practices. With the eEE, we are now taking electronic networking with clinics to a new level for the first time in Germany. Of course, we also need these applications in standard care, but the last few months in particular have shown once again that gematik's announcements are usually followed by immature and chaotic implementations. As long as that doesn't change, we will continue to rely on the advantages of the established doctor-to-doctor communication in the selective contracts." And Dr. Berthold Dietsche, Chairman of the Baden-Württemberg General Practitioners Association, adds: “For us doctors and our patients, the eAV is and remains a huge step forward in terms of easier and better care. Secure and technologically up-to-date digitalization solutions with appropriate remuneration, such as the eAV in Baden-Württemberg, must therefore be allowed to continue to exist until a technically and content-functional TI 2.0 is implemented.”