National Digital Health Symposium 2025: Bringing Innovations to Care Faster
Tino Sorge, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). © TMF
Despite rising expenditures, Germany’s innovation capability is stagnating. Innovations must be brought into healthcare faster, was the consensus among decision-makers from science, politics, and industry at the 7th National Digital Health Symposium on December 2, 2025, in Berlin.
Parliamentary State Secretary Tino Sorge (BMG) emphasized in his speech that “digital transformation offers significant opportunities to ensure efficient and high-quality healthcare in the long term.” For this, we need a learning healthcare system. Research needs data from healthcare, and care should be based on a solid data foundation. In recent years, the Federal Ministry of Health has initiated numerous initiatives, such as the electronic patient record (ePA) and the Research Data Center Health (FDZ), which represent important milestones on the way to a learning healthcare system.
Electronic Patient Record as a Central Element for a Digital Healthcare System
The ePA is considered a central element for an innovative healthcare system. It is the hub of cross-sector, data-driven care—particularly for patients with complex conditions. Digitalization is becoming the key to sustainable, efficient care processes. Dr. Florian Hartge, Managing Director of gematik, reported on the ongoing improvements. Planned developments include enhanced medication management, a smart search function for findings, the integration of laboratory data, and connectivity to the FDZ. “This is not yet the ePA everyone envisioned, but we have something in the world that we are continuously improving,” summarized Hartge. Dr. Christiane Wessel from the Berlin Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians sees it as an important challenge to bring the ePA closer to colleagues.
Dr. Florian Hartge, Managing Director of gematik GmbH. © TMF
Dr. Christiane Wessel, Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Berlin (KV Berlin). © TMF
This is not yet the ePA everyone envisioned, but we have something in the world that we are continuously improving.
Prof. Karl Broich, President of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM). © TMF
The opening of the FDZ Health at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) in autumn 2025 is “an important milestone on the way to a learning healthcare system,” explained Prof. Karl Broich. The FDZ provides billing data for statutory health insurance patients in a standardized, data protection-compliant, and secure environment. “Progress only happens when we think innovation and patient safety together,” emphasized Prof. Broich.
Prof. Dr. Josef Hecken, Chairman of the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA), particularly highlighted the importance of medical registers for the benefit assessment of drugs and medical devices, as well as for the validation of AI. “We must allow registry studies for benefit assessments,” said Hecken.
Prof. Josef Hecken, Independent Chairman of the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA). © TMF
Artificial Intelligence as an Innovation Driver
Dr. Jacqueline Lammert from the Technical University of Munich underlined in her keynote the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an innovation driver in healthcare: By AI-supported automation of routine tasks, smart documentation aids, and context-based search, clinical workflows can be accelerated, provided the systems are interoperable. She identified barriers in the lack of interoperable and annotated health data, as well as sovereign, scalable computing resources. Initiatives like the European Health Data Space (EHDS) can help address these issues.
Dr. Jacqueline Lammert, Head of the AI for Women's Health Research Group at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). © TMF
European Health Data Space Can Only Succeed Together
The implementation of the EHDS offers the opportunity to bring innovations into the healthcare system by establishing common rules, interfaces, and governance for the primary and secondary use of health data, unifying data access, harmonizing quality and safety standards, and accelerating cross-border research. For this to succeed, alongside technology and organization, societal acceptance is also crucial. Dr. Nilofar Badra-Azar from the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) is very optimistic that Germany is well-positioned for the EHDS. “The mindset shift has arrived,” said Badra-Azar. “The big challenge is to technically and regulatory reconcile data from different sectors,” estimates the TMF’s Managing Director Sebastian C. Semler. “The EHDS provides a framework, but we must implement it nationally. The further development of the Health Data Use Act and the Medical Register Act in preparation for the EHDS is therefore eagerly awaited.”
Sebastian C. Semler, Managing Director of the TMF. © TMF
Dr. Nilofar Badra-Azar, Consultant at the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). © TMF
The big challenge is to technically and regulatory reconcile data from different sectors.
The final session focused on the transfer of research results into economically sustainable applications. “Excellent research too rarely leads to good products, more efficient processes, and better care,” emphasized the TMF board member Prof. Dr. Rainer Röhrig. Delia Strunz from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine pointed out the innovation paper jointly written by the TMF, vfa, and BVMed to promote the health research and business location, in which the associations demand faster knowledge transfer from research to the market.
Delia Strunz, Director of Government Affairs & Policy Germany at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. © TMF
Prof. Dr. Rainer Röhrig, Chairman of the Board of the TMF and Director of the Institute for Medical Informatics at the University Hospital. © TMF
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Wiebke Lesch
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The National Digital Health Symposium
The National Digital Health Symposium serves as a networking and exchange forum for service providers, payers, and medical research, incorporating the perspectives of manufacturers and patients. The goal is to accelerate the digital cultural transformation. It is about facing challenges realistically, addressing them constructively, and jointly shaping the healthcare system of the future.
Further Information
About the TMF
TMF – Technology and Methods Platform for Networked Medical Research e.V. stands for research, networking, and digitization in medicine. It is the umbrella organization for collaborative medical research in Germany, within which leading researchers exchange knowledge, develop ideas and concepts together, and thus shape the future of medical research in the digital age.
