Berlin. Despite a legal requirement in effect since October 1, 2025, obliging doctors to populate the electronic patient record (ePA) with diagnoses, medical reports, and lab results, there appears to be no effective oversight in practice. This is according to a report by Der Spiegel. While physicians face potential payment cuts for non-compliance starting in 2026, regulatory bodies reportedly lack the technical means to verify whether the records are actually being filled.
Berlin's New ePA Law Faces Enforcement Gaps and Doctor Pushback
The regional Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) typically only check whether the ePA module is technically installed in the practice management system and "maintained in operational condition." According to industry sources, there is "no verification—and no enforcement—of whether the system is actually used in daily practice."
In a statement, the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), led by Nina Warken (CDU), emphasized that monitoring compliance with the ePA requirement falls under the responsibility of the KV associations. The ministry added that no adjustments to penalties for non-compliance are currently planned.
Under the Digital Healthcare Act, doctors who fail to use the ePA face a 1% reduction in reimbursement, along with a 50% cut to their telematics infrastructure allowance. However, since actual usage is difficult to verify, Der Spiegel reports that these sanctions have so far only been applied in cases where the required software is entirely absent from the practice.
Patients who discover that their records have not been updated are directed by the BMG to contact their KV or health insurer. Yet insurers can only offer advice and have no legal authority to compel physicians to comply.
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