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Revolution in on-call service: Telemedicine now for everyone in Lower Saxony!
The medical on-call service in Lower Saxony will be reformed on July 1, 2025. Patients will have faster access to telemedicine and structured initial assessments.
Revolution in on-call service: Telemedicine now for everyone in Lower Saxony!
Since July 1, 2025, there have been innovations in the medical on-call service in Lower Saxony that are important for many patients. In order to optimize acute care for the approximately 8 million people in this state, the Lower Saxony Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVN) initiated the reform under the name KVN.akut. This measure is intended not only to make medical care more efficient, but also to reduce the workload for resident doctors. regionalheute.de reports that ...
A central element of this reform is the introduction of a structured initial medical assessment (SmED), which every caller to the on-call number 116117 will now undergo. This assessment makes it possible to determine the urgency of the issue and find the appropriate level of care. The goal: faster and more direct initial contact with a doctor without patients being forced to make multiple phone calls.
Telemedicine as a new stage of care
One of the biggest innovations, however, is the telemedical assessment, which is available for urgent concerns. Patients now have the opportunity to receive medical feedback within 30 minutes of their call - via video call. Teledoctors are able to issue prescriptions and certificates of incapacity for work digitally. This measure is intended to help reduce the pressure on the emergency services and thus also minimize the evasive response to the emergency service, 112. kv-innovationsscout.de informs about…
In the context of this reform, it is also important that home visits by the medical transport service only take place on doctor's orders. This service is provided by Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe e. V. supports, which provides qualified personnel. This enables structured care even outside of normal practice hours. kvn.de emphasizes that ...
A look at the challenges
The need for this reform arises from several challenges that the on-call service is confronted with: high organizational costs, a heterogeneous structure and the noticeable shortage of doctors put the service under pressure. The new structure is intended to meet these challenges and ensure that patients can receive faster, more flexible and more efficient medical care.
The reform means relief for practicing doctors. The voluntary, non-mandatory allocation of on-call driving services opens up space for better organization and use of existing resources.
The innovations in the on-call service represent a further step towards modern, patient-oriented acute care. The KVN is optimistic that the reform will not only meet the needs of patients, but will also open up new perspectives for practicing doctors.