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Telepharmacy as the key to securing the nationwide supply of medicines
Demographic change and a growing need for care, a permanent shortage of skilled labour and pharmacy closures will make it increasingly difficult to ensure a nationwide supply of medicines in Germany in the coming years. In view of the strained financial situation of the public sector and statutory health insurance, the provision of care must become more efficient. Against this background, DocMorris is in favour of a consistent reform of the pharmaceutical supply system. The position paper ‘Telepharmacy: the key to nationwide coverage’ shows how the opportunities offered by digitalisation can be exploited, the system modernised and nationwide coverage secured in the long term.
‘A simple ‘business as usual’ approach, in which traditional structures are preserved and simply supported by additional funding, no longer works. A reform is needed that is pragmatically orientated towards patient needs and removes outdated regulatory hurdles. Telepharmacy must become a second, equally important pillar of pharmaceutical care alongside traditional care in local pharmacies,’ says Walter Hess, CEO of DocMorris. ‘Digitally supported patient care, combined with optimised drug delivery logistics, enables the efficient use of scarce care resources and improved patient care. Patients who are chronically ill or in need of care and people in structurally weak regions in particular benefit from receiving pharmaceutical advice and their medicines directly to their homes.’
DocMorris welcomes the fact that the draft of the Pharmacy Reform Act (ApoRG) contains initial attempts to integrate telepharmacy into standard care. However, the company is calling for more consistent implementation in order to safeguard the quality of care in the long term. Telepharmacy must be defined as open to technology and integrated into social law on an equal and non-discriminatory basis. The equalisation of online and local pharmacies respectively telepharmacy and on-site services in terms of billing and remuneration is essential.
In addition, care structures and processes must be more strongly orientated towards the needs and requirements of patients in the future. Direct contracts between pharmacies and health insurance companies, a legal entitlement to patient-specific blister packaging for polymedication and home care contracts that are no longer linked to formal requirements but to qualitative ones can help to ensure that people receive safe, comprehensive and rapid care at all times.
Media contact
Torben Bonnke, Director Communications
Email: media@docmorris.com
Phone: +49 171 864 888 1
DocMorris
DocMorris stands for customer-centred, innovative services and a wide range of digital healthcare products. These range from quickly making appointments to see a doctor online on the TeleClinic telemedicine platform to pharmaceutical advice and the supply of prescription and over-the-counter medicines and healthcare products from Germany's best-known online pharmacy. In addition, there is the marketplace with a broad complementary range of remedies and aids as well as products from the areas of nutrition, beauty and family. DocMorris thus provides its customers with easy access to comprehensive healthcare services in one place with just one click. In the Germany segment, the Swiss company DocMorris AG generated external sales of CHF 976 million in 2023 with currently 10 million active customers.
