The Regulatory Architecture of the German Digital Healthcare Transformation (2019–2026)
The modernization of the German healthcare system (the Gesundheitswesen) is built upon a foundation of specific federal laws. The journey began with the Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) in 2019 and was significantly accelerated by the Digital Act (DigiG) and the Health Data Use Act (GDNG) which reached full implementation by early 2025.
The core objective of these regulations is the creation of a "digital-first" care pathway for approximately 73 million citizens covered by statutory health insurance (SHI). A key feature of this architecture is the Telematics Infrastructure (TI)—a secure, closed network that connects doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, and insurers. By 2026, all medical practices are mandated to be part of this infrastructure, ensuring that patient data can be exchanged securely and instantly across the country, ending the era of paper-based referrals and faxed laboratory results.