Health data in connection with the SBK healthcare card

Information about the new application possibilities

Previously, only general data such as name, date of birth, and address were stored on the healthcare card. Now, if you give your doctor's office your express consent, you can also have health data stored on the card or save it yourself in your SBK electronic patient record.

You can use these apps with your SBK healthcare card:

SBK electronic patient record: You can store and manage your health data in the SBK electronic patient record app. You can find all the relevant information on the SBK electronic patient record page.

E-Prescription: You can redeem and store electronic prescriptions using the E-Prescription app. If you would like to know more, you can find all the important information on the E-Prescription page.

Your family doctor's office, other private medical practices or dental practices, and hospital staff can store data on your SBK healthcare card that may be helpful in an emergency. This will only happen if you expressly request it.

Advantages of emergency data on the SBK healthcare card

If you find yourself in an emergency situation and are admitted to hospital, the doctors there can access your emergency data. This gives them a quick overview of any pre-existing conditions and possible medical connections, such as chronic illnesses, regularly taken medication, or allergies. This can be very helpful in an emergency. Only doctors, dentists, and their staff, as well as members of certain other healthcare professions, e.g., emergency paramedics, are allowed to read the emergency data. In an emergency, for example, if the patient is unconscious, this can also be done without their consent.

This information belongs in an emergency data record

The following data can be stored in the emergency data record:

Information on chronic illnesses and important previous operations (e.g., diabetes, coronary heart disease, organ transplantation)

Information on regularly taken medications (especially if prescribed by a doctor)

Information on allergies and intolerances (especially drug allergies with known severe allergic reactions)

Other important medical information (e.g., pregnancy or implants)

Additional contact details of relatives who should be notified in an emergency and of treating doctors' offices (e.g., family doctor's office) and dental offices

If you have an organ donor card, living will, or health care proxy, you can also store information about where they are kept on your SBK healthcare card. In certain emergency or treatment situations, medical personnel can then use this information to find out that you have such a declaration and where it can be found (e.g., the organ donor card in your wallet).

How emergency data is stored

Doctors' and dentists' offices as well as hospitals can store important medical emergency data directly on your SBK healthcare card - provided that you expressly wish this and consent to the storage. In this case, clarify with your doctor what information may be important in an emergency. If you wish, you can receive a printout of your emergency data.

If important information changes, for example because you are taking different medication, please contact your doctor's office. They can then update this information on your SBK healthcare card. If you want emergency data to be deleted from your SBK healthcare card, doctor's offices or hospitals can do this for you.

At your request, your medication plan can be stored electronically on your health insurance card. This allows your doctors, dentists, clinics, therapy centers, and pharmacies to find out about your medication and help you use it correctly. It also allows them to take into account any possible interactions between different medications.

Advantages of the electronic medication plan

When prescribing and dispensing medication, your doctor's office, pharmacy, or dentist's office can find all the necessary information about the medication you are taking in the e-medication plan.

This benefits you when

you are prescribed new medications,

you want to buy over-the-counter medications at the pharmacy (self-medication),

information is needed to issue a repeat prescription,

the time of administration or the dose changes,

the use of a medication is suspended,

the use of several medications needs to be coordinated, or if allergies or intolerances need to be taken into account in drug therapy,

side effects occur, or

the trade names of your medications change due to substitutions.

With the electronic medication plan, medical facilities always have access to the latest medication data. This data can then be taken into account when doctors or dentists prescribe medication or when pharmacies dispense medication. This means you can be sure that any new medications you are prescribed will complement your existing medication and be compatible with it.

Your stored data also facilitates the exchange of information between everyone involved in your medication treatment. This can reduce certain risks, such as interactions with other drugs or incorrect and duplicate prescriptions.

Good to know: The information contained in the standardised federal medication plan, which is issued in paper form, is also included. The electronic medication plan also helps you when you need to provide information about your medication during consultations with your doctor, dentist or at the pharmacy.

This information is included in an electronic medication plan

The electronic medication plan is a further development of the paper-based medication plan (BMP). It lists all the medications that a patient is taking. With the electronic medication plan, this information can be stored on your healthcare card and is then available to your medical contacts. Of course, storing this data on your health insurance card is voluntary and requires your express consent.

The data in the electronic medication plan includes:

Your patient master data, such as name, address, and date of birth

Your medication-related data, such as allergies and intolerances

Your medication, i.e., all medicines you are taking and information on their use (dose, time, frequency, etc.). This includes both medicines prescribed by your doctor or dentist and medicines you have purchased over the counter at a pharmacy (self-medication).

Medications that you are no longer taking but which may be relevant for the doctor's office, pharmacy, or dentist's office to review the safety of your medication therapy are also listed.

How the electronic medication plan works

The medication data on your healthcare card is additionally protected against unauthorized access by a PIN. Before each use of the electronic medication plan, you must unlock the data with your PIN. If you do not yet have a PIN, please contact your personal SBK consultant. You can find the contact details here. They will discuss everything else with you.

This is how the electronic medication plan works, for example, at the doctor's office:

You present your healthcare card to your doctor's office.

Your doctor's office, pharmacy, or dentist's office needs your consent to use the e-medication plan once.

The card is inserted into the appropriate reader.

The medication data on your card is protected by a PIN. By entering the PIN, you grant access to the data.

The doctor's office can now view, add, or update your medication data and take the information into account during treatment.

If you wish, you can have your current medication plan printed out.

Your data can then be entered into the electronic medication plan on your healthcare card at the doctor's office or pharmacy.

Please provide information about your individual health status, such as any drug intolerances and any medications that have been prescribed to you by other doctors' offices or dental practices or that you have purchased at other pharmacies. Please also indicate if you are pregnant. It is also helpful to have additional information available, such as existing medication schedules or the packaging of your medications (currently being taken or taken until recently). If you already have a medication plan in paper form, please provide this as well, if possible. All information from your previous medication plan can be transferred to the electronic medication plan.

Your personal rights are protected

If you consent, the doctor's office will store your emergency data and information about the location of personal statements on your SBK healthcare card and in its computer. Data will not be stored elsewhere. In emergency situations, doctors, dentists, and their staff, as well as members of other healthcare professions (e.g., paramedics), may read your emergency data at any time without your consent, for example, if you are unable to give your consent.

Your emergency data may also be read as part of normal medical treatment, for example to update the information. In this case, however, the doctor's office, dentist's office, or medical staff must ask for your express consent each time. With your consent, the emergency data may also be read by pharmacies and psychological psychotherapy centers outside of emergency situations. Other persons are not permitted to access the data.

Each time the data is read, it is logged on your SBK healthcare card. Your consent to the basic storage of emergency data is also documented.

The data in your e-medication plan is also protected against unauthorized access. Medical practices, pharmacies, psychotherapy practices, and dental practices can only access your medication data with their special electronic institution or healthcare professional ID card and require your consent before each access. Unauthorized persons cannot access your data or request to view it.

What happens if you lose your health insurance card?

If you lose your card, please contact us so that we can send you a new one. However, this card will no longer contain any emergency or medication data. This is because, apart from your health insurance card, emergency and medication data is only stored at your doctor's office, pharmacy, or dentist's office (provided you have consented to your data being stored in their customer file), but not on external servers. If possible, ask your doctor's office, pharmacy, or dentist's office that last stored or updated emergency or medication data on your health insurance card to store the data on your new health insurance card.

We will block the lost card so that it can no longer be used.

Source: gematik GmbH