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TL;DRThe E-Rezept (electronic prescription) is the digital form of a prescription for statutorily insured (GKV) patients in Germany. The prescriber issues it into the gematik telematics infrastructure, and the patient redeems it at a pharmacy using the electronic health card (eGK), the E-Rezept app, or a printed token carrying a Data Matrix code.
It replaces the pink paper Muster-16 form for prescription-only medicines dispensed at the expense of the statutory health insurance. The E-Rezept is a medium, not a new legal category: it changes how a prescription is transmitted and stored, not which substances may be prescribed or under what conditions. The prescription itself is stored centrally in the telematics infrastructure (TI) operated under gematik, and the redemption data, not a scanned image, moves between practice, TI and pharmacy.
The controlling provision is §360 SGB V. Under §360 Abs. 1 the telematics infrastructure is to be used for the electronic transmission and processing of contract-physician prescriptions once the necessary services and components are available nationwide. §360 Abs. 2 Satz 1 obliges physicians and dentists to issue prescriptions for prescription-only medicines electronically. The obligation is dated in the statute from 1 January 2022, but the binding, nationwide productive use of the E-Rezept for GKV Rx medicines took effect on 1 January 2024, the point from which physicians must use it in routine care.
Since 1 January 2024 the E-Rezept is the standard for prescription-only (verschreibungspflichtige) medicines prescribed to GKV patients. The special controlled forms are a different, later story. §360 Abs. 2 Satz 2 SGB V sets the obligation to transmit prescriptions for Betäubungsmittel and for the §3a AMVV substances (the T-Rezept substances) electronically from 1 July 2025, but that step was not productive as of mid-2026: gematik published the final specification for the electronic T-Rezept on 19 August 2025 with introduction planned for 2026, and the electronic BtM prescription was still in the implementation phase. In practice, BtM and T-prescriptions therefore continued to run on their paper special forms while the electronic versions are built out.
This is the distinction pharma professionals most need to keep straight: the E-Rezept is the transmission medium, while the BtM-Rezept and the T-Rezept are substance-driven special-form regimes. A medicine's underlying Verschreibungspflicht status, and any BtM or T classification on top of it, still governs what may be prescribed and how. Moving a prescription into the TI does not lift the BtMVV documentation duties or the §3a AMVV supply limits and pregnancy-prevention programme.
| Concept | What it governs | Legal anchor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-Rezept | The medium: how a prescription is issued, transmitted and redeemed | §360 SGB V | Mandatory for GKV Rx medicines since 1 January 2024 |
| Verschreibungspflicht | Whether a substance needs a prescription at all | AMG, AMVV | Independent of the medium; applies on paper or electronically |
| BtM-Rezept | Narcotic (Betäubungsmittel) substances on the three-part form | BtMG, BtMVV | Paper special form; electronic BtM prescription pending (obligation dated 1 July 2025, not yet productive mid-2026) |
| T-Rezept | Thalidomide, lenalidomide, pomalidomide under the T-Register | §3a AMVV | Paper special form; electronic T-Rezept specification published Aug 2025, rollout planned 2026 |
pharmazie.com is a pharmaceutical information and data service, not a dispensing system and not part of the telematics infrastructure. It does not create, transmit or redeem E-Rezepte: that flow runs in the practice and pharmacy software connected to the TI under gematik. What the platform supplies is the reference data that stands behind the medicine named on the prescription, keyed to its PZN.
One honest limitation: pharmazie.com does not process E-Rezepte. Redemption, signing and dispensing happen in the TI and the pharmacy software, and the authoritative sources for the mandate and its dates are §360 SGB V and gematik. The platform's role is confined to the underlying article, price and status data per PZN, which is a reference layer next to the prescription workflow, not a substitute for it.
