SCM Microsystems have announced that their eHealth 100 card terminal has received approval from Gematik to participate in phase one of field tests of the electronic health card programme in Germany.
The company claim to be the first to receive approval from Gematik for its new card terminal, which was developed specifically for the German market.
A Gematik spokesperson confirmed to E-Health Europe: “We can confirm that after extensive testing and validation we have been able to approve the SCM eHealth card terminal to be used in field tests in selected parts of the country."
After a series of tests and development with Gematik, the public body responsible for the German national eHealth programme, the eHealth 100 terminal is said to now be compliant with Gematik specifications and requirements for the secure use of the electronic healthcard, providing the means to securely access data across the Telematics Network.
The German eHealth Program Telematics Network is intended to form the central nervous system of the German e-health card initiative, the network will connect all doctors, pharmacists, hospitals, medical facilities and insurance companies within Germany, allowing patient and administrative data to be securely exchanged.
The terminal can be used with all card types of the new German health care cards, including the electronic health card, which will be issued to insured individuals in Germany; the health professional card (HPC), which allows every professional in the health care sector to securely access and edit patient data. In addition, it also reads and operates with Germany’s current health card.
A SCM spokesperson told EHE: “The new terminal solution reads and operates both with Germany’s current memory card-based health card as well as with the new intelligent chip-based health card. We are proud to be the first to receive approval from Gematik for the national rollout of health smartcards in Germany."
“The Gematik qualification of the first health card terminals for the e- Health program is an important milestone for the introduction of the electronic health card in Germany,” added Dietmar Wendling, vice president for marketing at SCM Microsystems.
In addition, the terminal is compliant with SICCT (Secure Interoperable Chip Card Terminal) specification V1.03 – a catalogue of requirements for smart card terminals used in the German eHealth program’s secure network, or “telematics” infrastructure.
The SICCT specification was developed by the IT industry organization TeleTrusT e.V., in close relationship with Gematik and having successfully passed all technical and laboratory trials, the eHealth100 can now be used in field trials with actual healthcare system users as part of the testing process of the electronic health card.
Wendling added: “Not only does the eHealth100 terminal address the stringent requirements of this new program, but the next-generation design of the reader prevents obsolescence, helping to protect the significant investments that will be made." He said that many pharmacy, healthcare providers and hospital systems in Germany have already integrated the terminal into their administrative systems.
The terminal’s design allows for future applications currently planned. For example, using additional optional devices such as a fingerprint reader, healthcare providers will be able to authenticate themselves in the telematics network on a daily basis, rather than patient by patient, by providing a so called “convenience signature”.
In addition, mobile access to the telematics network is also planned, which would facilitate home healthcare visits and mobile rescue missions. SCM plans to develop enhanced terminals to address these new applications and others once Gematik specifications are available.
Links
Gematik specification for health cards
TeleTrusT e.V. SICCT (Secure Interoperable Chip Card Terminal) specification V1.03 (German language)