The Federal Government and the Länder are providing funds to make hospitals fit for the future. Funding is provided above all for digitalisation and IT security measures. We provide you with targeted support from the analysis of your processes to the notification of requirements and implementation.
The catalogue of eligible measures is extensive - the law, which was finally published on 29 October 2020, provides for a total of eleven funding areas.
- Improvement and modernisation of emergency medical care
- Digital patient portals
- Digital care and treatment documentation
- Establishment of partially or fully automated decision support systems
- Digital medication management
- Digital service request
- Service reconciliation & cloud computing
- Digital bed care record systems
- Telemedicine
- IT security
- Adaptation of patient rooms to the special treatment requirements in the event of a pandemic
On the one hand, the costs for the necessary information technology measures are eligible for funding, but also costs for consulting and planning services as well as costs for personnel and training.
Specifics and minimum requirements for the individual funding categories were published at the end of November in the form of a funding guideline, which can be downloaded from the website of the Federal Social Security Office (BAS). The same applies to the funding applications.
Particularly noteworthy: Each funded project must include at least 15% IT security.
Federal funds provide 70% of the funding amount, while the Länder and/or hospital owners provide 30%.
The law was passed with remarkable speed in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic - with less than three months between the first formulation aid and the final publication on 29 October 2020.
The aim is to implement the "Hospitals of the Future Programme", which was passed in the Bundestag on 3 June.
The timetable for the authorities involved at federal and state level as well as the hospital operators is also tight. Hospitals and clinics have been able to register their needs with the Länder since 2. September 2020 - but with the risk that minimum requirements from the funding guideline, which was published on 30. November 2020, may not be met. Applications can be submitted until the end of 2021 - time can be planned until 2023 for the implementation of the funded projects.
From 2025, sanctions are even possible if services funded through the KHZG are not offered.
The application process essentially follows the procedure familiar from the Hospital Financing Act and the Hospital Structural Fund.
- Hospital operators register their needs with the competent authority in their federal state. This has already been possible since the beginning of September 2020. Standardised forms are provided for the notification of need, which can be accessed on the BAS website.
- The federal state examines the notifications of need and decides for which projects the application will be submitted to the Federal Social Security Office (BAS). This "forwarding" of applications should take place no later than three months after the application is submitted.
- The distribution of the funding amount is flexible in that the state share of 30 % can also be taken over completely by the hospital operator. In this case, KfW funding programmes are available.
- Cross-country applications are possible.
Funding criterion 2: NEXUS / PORTAL
The NEXUS / PORTAL supports hospitals and other medical facilities in digitising and optimising processes around digital patient support - before, during and after treatment. Close interlocking with NEXUS / HIS (and other HIS) ensures that the corresponding information is available for subsequent processes.
All MUST requirements at a glance
Digital admission management
- Online appointment scheduling
- Fill in medical history forms online in advance
- Digital anamnesis by the admission management
- Pre-examinations uploaded in advance by patients
- Pre-examinations uploaded in advance by service providers
- Provision of hospital-specific information for patients
- Exchange of messages between patients and staff members
- Deep integration in NEXUS / HIS and HIS systems of other manufacturers
Digital treatment management
- Digital orientation aid on mobile devices
- Note function for patients
- Treatment diary
- Reminder of examination appointments
- Integration in the mobile NEXUS / HIS applications or mobile applications of other HIS manufacturers
- ePA connection
Digital release management
- Structured data exchange with referring physicians and other service providers
- Connection to digital platforms for inpatient care and rehabilitation providers
- Transfer of patient data into ePA
> More about the NEXUS / PORTAL
Funding criterion 9: Telemedicine file and TKmed
TKmed and the telemedicine file both independently fulfil the requirements of funding criterion 9 (telemedicine network structures). The MUST requirements are fulfilled through the following functions:
Telemedicine file
- Sending an electronic doctor's letter
- Transmission of medical documents via TI
- Intersectoral networking (communication with referring physician and patient)
> More about the telemedicine file
TKmed and telemedicine file
- Location-independent inter- and intradisciplinary and inter- and intrasectoral exchange
- Teleconsultations
- Transmission of image data (DICOM)
Funding criterion 10: Security components for CHILI portal solutions
We not only attach great importance to the functionality of our products, but also to data protection, data security and IT security for sensitive patient data. Therefore, the following security components are an integral part of all our "portal solutions".
- Protection of all systems which can be reached from outside the hospital: i.e. for referral portal, patient portal, teleradiology portal, ONE / NEXUS Portal
- NEXUS / CHILI portal solutions are always secured with their own web application firewall to detect and exclude malicious access from outside
- Protection through individually adjustable captchas
- Security through two-factor authentication by means of a 16-digit security token and a security question such as the date of birth
In order to be able to examine funding applications as promptly as possible, the Federal Social Security Office (BAS) will train employees of IT service providers from January 2021 to determine whether the measures envisaged in a project meet the requirements for funding.
This involves aspects of content on the one hand, and the financial and temporal framework conditions of a project on the other. Each funding application must be accompanied by proof that it has been examined by a certified consultant.
NEXUS will offer certified consulting services as soon as they are available. We already offer you the possibility of evaluating the processes in your institution and determining potentials. The basis for this is a tool on the basis of which we digitally trace your hospital in order to create a well-founded target/actual analysis.
We are happy to support you in preparing the application along the known premises!
How digital is your hospital? This question will be asked for the first time on a nationwide basis in the course of the Hospital Future Act. Initially in June 2021, a second time in 2023. The aim is to find out whether the measures have contributed to increasing the degree of digitalisation in terms of sustainable and viable medical care.
So far, it is not known which criteria or models will be used to measure the degree of maturity. In addition to EMRAM, one of the best-known maturity models, other procedures are being discussed, for example the Digital Health most wired Survey (CHIME) or the CheckIT model developed by the Marburger Bund and the Bundesverband Gesundheits-IT (bvitg).