Long-Term Future of Telemedicine in Germany: The Patient’s, Physician’s, and Payer’s Perspective

Abstract

While the near-term future of telemedicine development in Germany is quite clear, the long-term future has not been investigated. To determine telemedicine's long-term future in Germany, in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 key decision-makers in the German healthcare system. Interviewees included payers, doctors and their professional associations; and patients and their organizations. These individuals were asked what their expectations were in the application of telemedicine. According to the interviewees, several changes in the healthcare system as a whole will occur, which influence telemedicine. These include increase in cost pressure; the changing role of the payers and companies--as opposed to public organizations--playing a more active role in managing care. Physicians foresee more changes than payers do. Patients expect telemedicine to strengthen their role as patients. Most important telemedicine applications will be the "Gesundheitskarte" (a smart card enabling access to patient records), telemedicine as an enabling technology for other provider integration models, information systems for patients, and telemonitoring. The future looks promising for telemedicine in Germany.

Communities of practice: Telemedicine and online medical communities

“…European Union (EU) countries face expectations that healthcare providers promote, increase and broaden the use of telemedicine services and share their experiences (Panteli & Sims, 2010). Yet, in some European countries telemedicine is not thriving (May et al, 2003), and in other countries telemedicine faces significant challenges (Thielscher & Doarn, 2008). For telemedicine services to become sustainable, healthcare professionals must perceive that they gain value, sharing and creating specialist knowledge.…”

“…Because the members are geographically-dispersed and operate to a large part in isolation, it was not possible to interview them. The literature suggests that telemedicine is not as well used in Europe as anticipated (May et al, 2003;Thielscher & Doarn, 2008) but where communities of practice do develop their continuity relies on members perceiving that they receive benefits from membership. This research also finds that when virtual medical communities develop into communities of practice, there is greater effectiveness in knowledge sharing and communities of practice are sustainable when shared knowledge enhances medical practice.…”

Policy expectations and reality of telemedicine – a critical analysis of health care outcomes, costs and acceptance for congestive heart failure

“…6 The growing political desire to promote telemedicine can be observed in numerous telemedicine projects in Germany. 7 Much telemonitoring relates to patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).…”

Status of Telemonitoring Services in Diabetes Care in Germany: A Narrative Review

“…57 Nevertheless, there is a high level of agreement among patients with chronic diseases (especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic) of the benefits; they just have to be realized. 58,59 Against this background, telemedical measures must first be implemented and critically evaluated before they can be transferred to standard care. The legislator is called upon to remove the existing hurdles as soon as possible.…”