Where do we go from here? – Implementation and further development

Since March 2023, the Digitalisation Strategy for Health and Care has served as a central guide for digital transformation. The Strategy sets out short-term, medium-term and long-term measures to be implemented in the areas of processes, data as well as technologies and applications. The successes achieved in the course of implementation are evaluated in an ongoing process using suitable instruments, and – where appropriate – backed up by KPIs.

To assist important decisions in a targeted way, create transparency regarding responsibilities and facilitate acceptance for the transformation, patients, people in need of long-term care, friends and family members, service providers, the scientific community, the healthcare industry, health and long-term care insurance funds and other cost carriers must work together constructively. Two years after publication of the Strategy, an initial interim report by gematik provided an overview of the implementation progress to date and outlines plans for future development. Since its publication, active implementation has started in over 90 percent of the measures and is largely on schedule.

Since publication of the Strategy in 2023, numerous new tasks and challenges have emerged for the healthcare system. The establishment of the European Health Data Space (EHDS), advances in artificial intelligence and the planned introduction of a primary care system are just three examples that have direct implications for the opportunities of digitalisation and innovation in the health and long-term care system.

As a result, a further development of the Strategy was published in February 2026 that adapts the strategic framework to the changed circumstances and makes adjustments and additions in terms of the measures in particular. Digitalisation should be consistently baked into all reforms from the outset in order to allow digitalisation to develop its full potential.