Telekom subsidiary service to put German health card in digital wallet approved

A digital identity service for healthcare developed by T-Systems has been approved by Germany’s national agency for healthcare system digitalization, Gematik.

The service will allow health cards and digital IDs to be used via a digital wallet on smartphones and other devices, starting in 2024.

German health insurance provider Barmer commissioned T-Systems to build the system to provide and manage digital identity for its 8.7 million policy-holders in 2022.

“The digital identity in healthcare – the Health ID – guarantees security and ensures greater convenience with digital healthcare services,” says Gematik CEO Markus Leyck Dieken. “Insurance policy-holders thus have a central key for health applications such as the electronic patient file, the e-prescription and other digital health applications in their hands.”

“We are delighted that gematik has given the green light for our ID wallet system at Barmer,” says T-Systems CEO Adel Al-Saleh. “Patients demand control over their own data. With their digital identity, they get secure and easy access. Technology is key to the digitalization of healthcare as a whole. Digital identities create trust. Almost every area of life will benefit from this in the future.”

As the system operators, T-Systems and its development partner Verimi do not have access to any data held within the wallet.

Barmer policy-holders can receive a digital version of their electronic health or ID cards as of January 1, 2024. A post to T-Systems’ website specifies that Verimi supplies the digital ID wallet, and identity verification is carried out with biometrics.

The legal basis for the health insurance digital identity is the Digital Care and Nursing Modernization Act (DVPMG).

T-Systems is part of Deutsche Telekom AG, sometimes referred to simply as “Telekom.”

Telekom is a part of the EU’s digital identity wallet field tests, which are planned to run through 2024. Along with o2 Telefónica and Vodaphone, Telekom is a part of the potential Consortium-led pilots, in which digital identity is used to activate a mobile phone contract and unlock the SIM card.

The pilot, originally announced in July, is operating in Germany, France, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Greece and Ukraine.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Deutsche Telekom  |  digital ID  |  digital wallets  |  Germany  |  healthcare  |  identity verification  |  Verimi