Digital Identity
Whether it's accessing health data or using health-insurance services: Digital identities simplify the access to medical information and boost patient engagement.
ID Souvereignty in healthcare
T-Systems and Verimi together have built a highly secure ID wallet for the Health ID, which can easily be integrated into any insurer app. This gives members fast and secure access to digital health services.
With digital identities, policyholders can manage a digital twin of their national ID card or electronic health card (eGK) on their mobile device. This twin acts as an online identity proof that authenticates and authorizes the holder whenever a health-service provider needs confirmation.
The Health ID has to be user-friendly while meeting the strict security, data-protection and interoperability requirements of Germany’s gematik. Together with Verimi, we obtained the first approval for an ID wallet that provides secure digital identities for healthcare in Germany. This allows users to access online services that comply with legal mandates for networking healthcare stakeholders and strengthening patient engagement.
Digital identities are the answer to improve both the security and efficiency of healthcare services and claims processing in the health insurance industry. A key goal is to involve patients more closely in the treatment process so that they can actively take part in their own healthcare.
Digital identities provide a single, secure gateway to health services, letting users view, control and manage medical information and health data. At the same time, policyholders receive access to their electronic patient record (ePA) or e-prescription. In doctor's offices and hospitals, the Health ID also works as a digital proof of insurance—just like the physical eGK.
Based on the German Digital Care and Nursing Modernization Act (DVPMG), health insurance providers are required to offer secure digital identities starting in 2024, in addition to identification with the electronic health card. Besides interoperability and data exchange between stakeholders in healthcare, also patient engagement is central.
Beyond legal requirements, e-health identities add value. Working with Verimi, we integrate the digital identity via the ID wallet—a secure container—directly into existing insurer apps. Policyholders simply load their ID card or eGK into the wallet; authentication then takes place through a PIN or biometric trait such as Face ID or Touch ID.
Digital health identities protect sensitive medical data and open the door to health services.
Our services—your benefits
Access or manage medical information and health data on any mobile device: digital identities are the master key to e-health.
Take a look at the benefits:
Digital health identities offer a secure, convenient way to manage health data. Policyholders can access their insurer’s digital services directly from a mobile device. By strengthening patient engagement, digital identities ease access to healthcare and promote interoperability and data exchange among all stakeholders.
Our digital-identity solution meets gematik’s stringent requirements for identification, data access and authentication. Using a confidential-computing approach in the Open Sovereign Cloud, data remain encrypted throughout processing, so only the insured person can access them. The solution is run exclusively in T-Systems’ German data centers. Open-source cloud software also enables healthcare stakeholders to use the cloud efficiently.
Digital identities make it easy to involve policyholders in their treatment and give them control over their data. The ID wallet integrates seamlessly into existing insurer apps, safely stores ID documents such as the national ID card or eGK and reduces login to a PIN or biometric feature like Face ID.
Beyond healthcare, digital identities will simplify and secure many areas of digital life—from online public services and patient records to bank accounts. The vision of managing personal data autonomously in one app and accessing it at the touch of a button is becoming reality.
What are digital identities?
A digital identity is an electronic proof of identity that can be used online and enables user authentication and authorization. In healthcare it is a key step toward full digitalization: Policyholders can keep a digital twin of their national ID card or electronic health card (eGK) on a mobile device.
When will digital identities arrive?
Under the Digital Care and Nursing Modernization Act (DVPMG), statutory health insurers must introduce secure digital identities as an addition to the existing identification with the electronic health card. The eGK thus gains a digital twin on mobile devices, giving access to data and applications. The Health ID also serves as proof of insurance, just like the physical eGK.
How does online identity verification work?
With the Health ID, insurers can serve their members within their familiar app environment. Secure authentication occurs directly on the mobile device—no usernames, passwords or multi-step verification. Existing online customers are automatically migrated to the new ID standard with the ID wallet, so login requires only a single PIN. To activate the Health ID, the policyholder simply scans their national ID card or eGK once.
How can I protect my digital identity?
Telekom Healthcare Solutions and Verimi’s Health ID is the first gematik-approved digital identity for German healthcare (Sept 2023) and meets all gematik/BSI security and interoperability rules.
These standards require the highest level of security measures for identification, data access and authentication throughout transport, storage and processing. It must be ensured that only authorized persons can access medical data by protecting and securing access to personal information. Sensitive social data stay in Germany under binding confidentiality. These stringent legal frameworks make the use of cloud services particularly challenging, as conventional cloud offerings from hyperscalers cannot be used in full compliance with legal requirements.
Digital twins of the eGK or ID card reside in Telekom’s Open Sovereign Cloud, a geo-redundant, scalable platform hosted solely in German data centers (Magdeburg, Biere, Frankfurt). The scalable ID solution is developed as open source software and is suitable for a wide range of sovereignty requirements. Confidential computing and open-source code ensure sovereignty while enabling regulated bodies to use cloud resources legally.
Data are processed inside Intel® Software Guard Extensions (SGX) enclaves—encrypted memory zones that deny access even to admins. No one, not even Telekom or Verimi, can see the data, so policyholders can trust their medical and social information is secure.