"Fit for change - analog therapy & digital future"

On November 16 and 17, the 7th Dresden Medical Law Symposium took place at the Saxon State Medical Association. This year's theme was "Fit for change - analog therapy & digital future". The conference was dedicated to various legal issues associated with the advancing digitalization of the healthcare industry. International players such as the British online doctor "DrEd" claim to have already "treated" well over 200,000 German patients via the Internet. The German medical profession also opened up to comparable forms of care in May 2018. Although only a small part of healthcare can be covered by telemedical services, their growth potential is enormous. In total, well over 200 billion euros were generated in the SHI market in 2017 - with a strong upward trend. By way of comparison, it should be noted that this amount is higher than the national income tax revenue in the same period. So there are many reasons to address the legal issues surrounding digitalization in the healthcare industry.

Professor Dr. Erik Hahn from the Faculty of Economics and Industrial Engineering at the HSZG spoke at the Dresden International University event, which was attended by over 100 participants, on the topic of "Current developments on the exclusive ban on remote treatment -  What is the doctor allowed to do in addition to providing advice? - Accompanying regulations and their significance for medical practice". Current burning issues such as the necessary adaptation of the law on the advertising of therapeutic products and divergences between medical professional and pharmaceutical law were discussed.

 Other topics at the event included "Fit for change - employment and company law for doctors", "The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - effects in medical practice" and "Big data using the example of biodatabases". 

Some of the content from Professor Hahn's lecture has been published in the current issue of the journal "Gesundheitsrecht".