What is an e-prescription?
The electronic prescription (e-prescription) replaces the previously valid pink paper prescription that your doctor used to issue to you. All important prescription data is now available to your pharmacy in digital form.
What information does the e-prescription contain?
The e-prescription contains all the data that is also on the paper prescription:
- Information about the medication
- Details of your health insurance
- Address of your doctor
- Date of issue
- Validity of the prescription
- Information on possible alternatives if the prescribed drug is not available (“aut-idem” regulation)
E-prescription also for privately insured persons?
The “blue prescription” for privately insured persons will remain in paper form for the time being. However, privately insured persons are also to be given access to the e-prescription in the future – a corresponding concept is currently being developed.
When will the e-prescription be available?
It is currently unknown when you can expect a new official launch date. Statutorily insured persons will therefore continue to have the “classic” paper prescription at their disposal.
How does the e-prescription work?
The doctor first stores the prescription in the form of a digital prescription in the telematics infrastructure and signs it digitally. This can also be done during a video consultation.
The pharmacy can later access the prescription via a so-called QR code, which is also generated via the telematics infrastructure. The code is similar to the barcodes you are familiar with from packaging. However, it stores significantly more information.
If you have a smartphone, you can manage the e-prescription via an e-prescription app from your health insurance company. You download this from the popular app stores (Google Play, Apple Store). Your insurer will tell you which e-prescription app is valid for you and how they work in detail.
How do I redeem an e-prescription?
You can redeem the e-prescription at any pharmacy of your choice – this can be a local pharmacy, but also an online pharmacy. To obtain your medication, you transmit your individual QR code to the pharmacy via smartphone or present a corresponding paper printout.
The pharmacy reads the QR code, compares your data with the digital medical prescription via the telematics infrastructure, and thus receives all the important information about your prescription. You will then be handed or sent your medication.
Check availability, reserve medication
If you have an e-prescription stored on your smartphone, you can check in advance whether the prescribed medication is available for pickup or shipment at your pharmacy. As soon as you authoritatively assign the corresponding QR code to a pharmacy via the app, they will reserve the medication for you or send it to you.
Do I need a smartphone?
What are the advantages of e-prescriptions?
The switch to e-prescribing offers a number of benefits and will enable additional digital applications in the future:
- You will receive the e-prescription directly following a video consultation and will not have to wait for it to be sent to you by post.
- When ordering from the online pharmacy, you can transmit the prescription directly and no longer have to send it by mail.
- Since you can check in advance whether a medication is in stock at your pharmacy, you save yourself unnecessary trips.
- In the future, you will no longer have to pick up follow-up prescriptions at the pharmacy or have them sent to you.
- In the future, e-prescriptions will be linked to a digital reminder function for taking your medication, which will ensure that you don’t forget to take it.
How long is the e-prescription valid?
The same deadlines apply to the e-prescription as to the (classic) paper-based prescription. This means that people with statutory health insurance have one month to redeem it. Specific provisions as to whether the e-prescription is valid for 28 or 30 days depend on the health insurance company and the federal state.
An exception exists for the electronic counterpart of the “green prescription,” where you pay for the prescribed medication at your own expense. This is valid for an unlimited period of time.
