E-Card Chaos: Patients despair of disorders in Linz!

E-Card Chaos: Patients despair of disorders in Linz!

On Monday, December 16, 2024, there was a massive technical failure of the E-Card system in Austria, which resulted in significant problems in the redemption of medical regulations in pharmacies. Patients reported that their recipes were displayed as empty, which led to great frustration. The Linz area was particularly affected, where several pharmacies were affected by the disorders. A pharmacist was frustrated: "The system has been spinning all day", as reported by Kosmo . The disorder prevented patients from making their recipes comfortably in the pharmacy, so many were forced to see their doctors to receive the necessary regulations in paper form - a step backwards in modern health care.

Problems also in Germany

Not only in Austria there were difficulties: In Germany, too, numerous health insurance companies such as the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) and the AOK were affected. According to Apotheke adhoc , the operator Compugroup Medical (CGM) was the central point of the problem, of which up to 20 percent of the systems were affected. Pharmacists complained about the new failure that repeatedly impairs the use of e-recipes and the connection to the insured master data management (VSDM). IT experts pointed out that the numerous dependencies between the various services, as mentioned by Manuel Blechschmidt, lead to performance problems. In the meantime, the patient was recommended to request street regulations in an emergency.

The setbacks in the e-card system now appear shortly before the introduction of digital solutions, which should enable more flexible handling of health data. It is still unclear whether the current disorders are connected to these changes. Users may be excited to see whether the upcoming revision of the E-Card and the planned digital use will work smoothly or whether further technical problems can be expected.