Berlin – October 30, 2026 -- Only 23.5% of respondents say they use Germany's electronic patient record (ePA), even though 81.5% know it, according to a representative Civey survey commissioned by industry association Pharma Deutschland, 18 months after the nationwide rollout.

Awareness is high, but usage has barely moved since launch

The ePA has been available nationwide since April 29, 2025. Pharma Deutschland says its surveys show awareness was already as high a year ago as it is today, while the number of users has hardly risen in that period.

Civey has run continuous live monitoring for the association since January 2025. Its representative results draw on 5,000 responses.

Pharma Deutschland blames missing incentives for insurers and providers

Managing Director Dorothee Brakmann describes the lack of incentives as a design flaw. In her assessment, neither statutory health insurers nor service providers have a reason to develop the ePA further or build it into care delivery. She argues that Germany cannot rely on digitalization advancing on its own.

Doctors' practices and pharmacies face the same lack of incentives, according to the association. Policyholders also see limited concrete benefit.

Commercial health apps and the e-prescription set the benchmark

Pharma Deutschland contrasts the ePA with health apps on the open market. Those apps compete for users with appointment reminders, document delivery and clearly organized vaccination information. The ePA lacks comparable pressure to innovate, the association says.

The e-prescription is the counterexample. It has digitized prescribing and redemption of prescription-only medicines and largely replaced paper prescriptions. Pharma Deutschland says the ePA must likewise contribute directly to care rather than only supply technical infrastructure.

Launch promises from politics and insurers remain unmet

Then-Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said the day before the April 2025 launch that the ePA would soon become indispensable in everyday care. At the pilot phase start on January 15, 2025, Techniker Krankenkasse CEO Dr. Jens Baas pointed to the record's enormous potential for patient treatment.

AOK Federal Association chair Dr. Carola Reimann called the rollout good news given what she described as a gigantic digitalization deficit in the German health system. The insurers also named conditions for success: active use by all parties, data security and time for practical benefits to emerge.