Working group: Digital health policy

The working group discusses current digital laws in detail and prepares VDGH statements on digital healthcare legislation. The impact on the diagnostics industry plays a special role here. Topics such as data use and data access, remuneration in the field of digital diagnostics and the interaction between the various healthcare systems in Europe are of great importance. At federal level, in 2023, for example, the working group took a closer look at the Act on the Improved Use of Health Data (Health Data Use Act - GDNG) and the Act to Accelerate the Digitalization of the Healthcare System (Digital Act - DigiG). Important information was given to the legislator on the use of data in accordance with Section 303e SGB V and demands were formulated for the expansion of digital health applications and digital care applications for diagnostic software.

One of the tasks of the Digital Health Policy Working Group is also to provide the Digital Committee with new impetus. The working group is therefore increasingly focusing on the topics of remuneration for AI systems in the context of diagnostics and the interaction between the various players in the healthcare system. After all, these topics are crucial for the introduction of digital technology into healthcare in Germany. The VDGH's demands in the area of digital healthcare policy therefore also go beyond the pure diagnostics sector. After all, digitalization is about the interaction of a complex system in which diagnostics and therefore also laboratory results play a central role. In Austria, for example, more than half of all electronic findings are laboratory results. The Digital Health Policy WG was made up of representatives of government affairs managers and public policy managers from the member companies.