Germany remains tragically analog when it comes to accessing health records

EHR across Europe

We dug up some interesting yet sobering data on the usage of digital health records across Europe, which can be found on Eurostat. Germany, one of the leading economies in the world, ranks as one of the least digitally-enabled countries in Europe when it comes to the usage of online health records. Only 3% of Germans are able to use the internet to access and manage their health data.

Germany at the back of the pack

Practically speaking, people’s health history only exists in analog paper folders spread across various practitioners and clinics. For comparison, Finland’s penetration of digital health-record usage scores at 61%, followed by its Scandinavian peers Norway, Iceland, and Denmark at 42%, 35%, and 34%, respectively. This is a devastating sign for a country like Germany, whose ability to innovate in the health sector is massively impaired by this nonexistent interoperability of its citizens’ health information.