The world is becoming more digitalized every day – from the electronic patient record (ePA) to the electronic health card (eGK). In such a scenario, how can we improve the safety and efficiency of healthcare services along with processing in the health insurance industry? The answer is digital identities: digital IDs that are used online to authenticate and authorize users. They ensure the protection of sensitive medical data and enable access to services.
The health insurance card is coming to the smartphone: based on the Law on Digital Modernization of Health and Nursing Care, (DVPMG), health insurers will have to offer digital identities to their policyholders from 2024. This health ID enables insured persons to access information and health applications, such as the electronic patient file (eGK) and the e-prescription. The big challenge: the ID must be extremely user-friendly and, at the same time, compliant with gematik’s strict requirements in terms of security, data protection and interoperability. This will ensure smooth operation and acceptance of the technology.
The introduction of digital identities is an important step toward the digitalization of healthcare and gives insured persons sovereign control over medical information, such as their emergency data. The HealthID from T-Systems allows secure and convenient management of health data. It meets gematik’s strict security requirements and provides insured persons with the central key to healthcare applications. The technology is based on the “Confidential Computing” approach and ensures that data is encrypted during processing, which means not even operators can view it.
T-Systems was commissioned by BARMER to provide and manage digital identities for its approximately 8.7 million policyholders. These digital identities are offered via ID services, with T-Systems using the Verimi ID wallet as a secure method. BARMER plans to roll out this technology from January 2024, giving its policyholders easy and secure access to online services. This project is part of the requirements of the Law on Digital Modernization of Health and Nursing Care (DVPMG), which requires health insurance companies to offer digital identities from 2023.
BARMER provides secure digital identities in cooperation with T-Systems and Verimi. The ID Wallet from T-Systems and Verimi is seamlessly integrated into the BARMER app, securely stores identification documents such as the electronic ID card or the electronic health insurance card, and simplifies the login process by using a PIN or biometric features such as Face ID.
