Gemalto to issue an additional 15 million eHealth cards in 2012 for AOK insurees

Gemalto will issue an additional 15 million second-generation eHealth cards (“eGK”, elektronische Gesundheitskarte) to AOK in 2012. AOK (“Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse)”, the Health Insurance Fund, looks after around 25 million people, approximately one third of the population in Germany. Last year alone Gemalto issued two and a half million health cards for the German National Health Insurance Scheme. In the joint, large-scale project, Gemalto is responsible for the entire card production process for Germany’s largest health insurance company. From production and personalization through to fulfillment services, Gemalto is demonstrating its excellence in operation.

The new Sealys eHealth card features a portrait photo of the insured person on the front. Together with the secure authentication function of the operating system, this enhances the legitimacy of the rightful cardholder and   further reduces fraud. In addition, the card shall in future enable secure access to an online patient file and store electronic prescriptions. With the holder’s consent, additional personal information can be stored on the card, including emergency data such as allergies or drug intolerance. When using the services and added-value applications offered, insurees benefit from the card certified by the BSI(1) and Gematik(2).

“Our goal is to continue increasing efficiency, quality and transparency for the medical service provided to our insurees,” said Mirko Weißbach, Project Manager Telematics at AOK Bundesverband. “The eGK and the creation of the telematics infrastructure is another important step in this direction. In 2011, Gemalto managed to issue the cards as required by law in a very short period of time. We do appreciate this fruitful collaboration.”
“Germany is leading the world in the development of eHealth cards,” added Andreas Lösch, Vice-President, Gemalto. “With the new eGK card we are fulfilling a requirement for a secure online connection between users and their health insurance company. This is a key move towards e-services.”
The provision of the AOK card and associated services further strengthens Gemalto’s position in the healthcare sector, with eHealthcare projects in eleven nationwide programs including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Gabon, Mexico and Slovenia.
(1) BSI: The “Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik” (Federal Office for Information Security) is an independent and neutral body for questions relating to IT security in the information society.
(2) Gematik: The “Gesellschaft für Telematikanwendungen der Gesundheitskarte mbH” was established specifically for the introduction of eHealth cards and covers many tasks in the implementation of the telematics infrastructure. For this project, Gematik is focused on its core competencies: design, approval and operational responsibility.