German doctors say no to central EHR database: USB solution suggested
Concerned about increased risks to patient data under the country’s planned eGK EHR programme, Germany’s independent doctors’ association, the NAV Virchow Bundes, has called on the programme’s coordinator, Gematik, and vendors involved in the programme to drop plans to create a centralised patient data repository.
According to the association, Gematik and the German ministry for health is sticking with technology that is insecure and has been overtaken by better alternatives. It points to the loss of 160,000 patient records by the UK NHS and NPfIT, revealed just before Christmas, as proof that centralised EHR databases make patient data far more vulnerable to loss.
“Instead of closing our eyes to other models, we should actively seek alternatives, without preconditions”, says the association’s president, Klaus Bittmann in a press release.
The association prefers a completely decentralised solution, with patients responsible for their own data. The association suggests that the currently planned eGK smartcard could be replaced with a USB card or memory stick, which would have the capacity to carry all a patient’s EHR, clinical and diagnostic data. Such a solution would not require the building of an enormously expensive infrastructure, and would be far more secure.
