e-health will cut German health bill by 3%:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Germany may be behind Denmark in terms of implementation of electronic-assisted healthcare delivery, but the cost-savings to be achieved once Germany is fully online are considerable. So said minister of state for health Klaus Theo Schroder at a forum on public sector applications of state-of-the-art computer technology, during the recent CeBIT computer fair. The e-health card is being trialled in eight states, Dr Schroder said (Clinica passim). The card is an essential step in the modernisation of healthcare delivery. The cost efficiencies available once the e-card is in full circulation have been estimated by Boston Consulting at Euro7bn ($7.8bn) per year - 3% of current health expenditure. Currently, some 6% of German doctors can access computer-based patient records, compared with 81% in Denmark.