Pharmacies Advised to Restart Connectors Amid E-Prescription Issues

Pharmacies across the country have encountered significant challenges with the processing of electronic prescriptions (E-Rezept) using electronic health cards (eGK) starting yesterday morning. The Gematik, responsible for the digital healthcare infrastructure in Germany, reported connectivity issues around 9:30 AM, indicating that the transmission of E-prescriptions via eGK was hindered. However, alternative methods such as the health ID app or printed prescriptions remained functional.

Despite an update released early in the afternoon, the problems persisted, prompting Gematik to advise pharmacy teams to remove and reinsert the eGK in their terminals to potentially resolve the transmission issues. By evening, the connectivity problems had not been fully rectified, and around 7:30 PM, the Gematik confirmed that some individual cases of restriction were still occurring.

Investigation into the matter revealed that the root cause was an internet disruption affecting the VPN access service provided by Arvato Systems Digital. This disruption led to a scenario where some connectors within medical facilities were unable to establish a complete connection to the telematics infrastructure (TI).

To mitigate the ongoing issues, the Gematik recommended that affected service providers restart their connectors, which should restore full connectivity with the TI. By Wednesday, June 4th, at 10:30 AM, the Gematik announced that the issues had been resolved, bringing relief to pharmacies and healthcare providers relying on the seamless operation of electronic prescriptions.