BDP still sees the protection of health data at risk and a need for improvement in the Digitalization Act (DigiG)

01.08.2023 13:04

The Federal Ministry of Health has presented a draft bill for the Digitalization Act (DigiG), which is intended to change previous regulations on the protection of health data. The core of this is about resolutions on the electronic patient file (ePA) in the Patient Data Use Act (PDSG) from 2020. On August 1st, associations will hear from associations on the draft.

Until now, patients have had to explicitly consent to the storage of health data for wide use (opt-in). However, the opt-out regulation is now stipulated in the current draft law on DigiG. The central difference: health data, including particularly sensitive data such as mental illnesses, must be stored in the ePA by service providers and can be used for research purposes. If patients do not want this, they must now take action and object to the storage. After all, psychotherapists and doctors should be obliged to explicitly point out the right to object and patients should have the opportunity to delete individual data and distribute differentiated access rights.

The Professional Association of German Psychologists (BDP) nevertheless expressly calls for the opt-in rule to be retained when storing health data in the electronic patient file, at least for data on mental illnesses. This is the only way to ensure that patients retain control over their data.

Face-to-face contact in psychotherapeutic treatment must remain the “gold standard”.

Another new regulation in the draft law is the expanded possibility of billing video treatments via statutory health insurance (GKV). So far, 30 percent of the scope of the practice can be billed as video treatments. This limit will no longer apply in the future. What may sound forward-looking could turn out to be problematic. The background is probably less an improved supply than the supposed “closing” of supply gaps in structurally weak regions. Patients often wait several months for outpatient psychotherapeutic treatment. Many of them will probably not be helped by video treatment. Face-to-face contact in psychotherapeutic treatment must remain the “gold standard” and must not be “sacrificed” to supposedly close gaps in care.

The BDP and its specialist section VPP (Association of Psychological Psychotherapists) reject this approach and call on the federal government to implement the coalition agreement on the needs-based care of mentally ill people. The association's detailed statement on DigiG will be sent to the BMG today, August 1st.