German politicians and privacy advocates are calling for the country’s nationwide EHR system, the elektronische Gesundheitskarte (eGK), to be scrapped following the abandonment of Germany’s electronic payments records system amidst concerns over poor systems security and data privacy.
After years of trying to roll out a nationwide electronic payments record system, the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Work announced on July 18th the cancellation of its elektronischen Entgeltnachweis (ELENA) national payments records system. The decision follows a review that found widespread lapses in security systems designed to protect data held on central servers. The ministry is bringing forward a bill in the Reichstag to allow the deletion of all employee data held on the cancelled project’s servers, and removing the obligation on employers to report payroll data electronically.
Both Green Party and Left Party politicians have welcomed the cancellation of ELENA, and implied that eGK should suffer the same fate. Speaking to Deutschen Apotheker Zeitung, Green Party home affairs spokesman Dr. Konstantin von Notz said cancellation was a long overdue step and seeking to implement such systems was unconstitutional. Jan Korte of the Left Party said that the Government should cancel the eGK system immediately.
In a press statement issued after the cancellation, the president of the Free Doctors Association (Freie Ärzteschaft) Martin Grauduszus calls eGK a ‘data monster’ which should be ‘thrown in the shredder immediately after ELENA’.
Further reading:
- Forderung nach eGK-Stopp wird wieder laut — Deutschen Apotheker Zeitung
- Grauduszus: “Elektronische Gesundheitskarte muss ‘Elena’ folgen” Unverzüglich ab in den Schredder
- Patient muss Herr seiner Daten bleiben
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