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New German EHR data protection law planned

German Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn is planning a new law to control when and what doctors can access on patients’ electronic health records (EHR).

Spahn, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU Party, told Germany newspaper Tagesspiegel that he wanted to improve data protection measures for the new German EHR, the eGK, which is planned to enter service in January 2021.

The announcement follows a report by Germany’s Chaos Computer Club (CCC), a group of ethical cybersecurity hackers, that they had discovered significant and systemic security flaws in the eGK EHR.

Spahn told Tagesspiegel that he plans to meet with representatives of the CCC to discuss their findings.

The CCC discovered that doctors’ and GP practice ID smartcards had a number of vulnerabilities that could be used to expose data on patients’ health records.

As a result, no further doctors or practice ID smartcards are being issued until their security flaws have been fixed.

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