The electronic maternity record (e-maternity record)

In Germany, women receive a maternity record at the start of their pregnancy for recording the results of all medical check-ups. To enable midwives and all of the doctors involved in their medical care to view this data, it is important for pregnant women to have their maternity record with them when attending a medical practice. The information is also important for the birth and in medical emergencies.

The electronic maternity record has the same appearance and contents as the printed version and has been part of the electronic patient record (ePA) since 2022. You can access the entries in the e-maternity record at any time in the ePA app on your smartphone or tablet. You can use the app to grant the medical and midwifery practices involved in your care access to the e-maternity record for individual examinations or for the entire duration of the pregnancy.

If you decide to use the electronic maternity record, all the information about your medical check-ups will be stored as part of your electronic patient record (ePA). This prevents the results of such check-ups from being lost. They are available at any time and new entries can be continuously added, even if you do not have your smartphone with you.

The electronic patient record is also a handy way to display all maternity records for later pregnancies too as information about a previous pregnancy can also be useful in relation to future ones.

During the course of pregnancy, ultrasound examinations produce results and images, which pregnant women usually store as a loose collection in their maternity record’s envelope. In the electronic patient record, these important documents are clearly organized and securely stored. This enables them to be accessed in the electronic maternity record during follow-up examinations.

Many of the fields in the electronic maternity record are completed automatically. Information from the final examination and about the birth can be automatically transferred from the maternity record to the electronic child examination booklet if your medical practice’s management system supports this, preventing errors when transferring the data. Depending on the ePA app provided by your health insurance provider, it may be possible to receive automatic reminders for upcoming examinations.

All medical institutions connected to the telematics infrastructure (TI) can generally work with your electronic patient record (ePA) providing you have authorized them to do so. This also includes midwives. However, their connection to the TI is voluntary.

If your midwife is not connected to the TI, you can use the ePA app to create a PDF document with the data from the maternity record, which you can then present. A mobile system that will allow midwives to access e-maternity records even during home visits is expected to be available from 2023.

This is theoretically possible. However, because it could lead to inconsistencies and additional effort, people should ideally choose one or the other.

The electronic maternity record is part of the electronic patient record (ePA). As with the ePA, you decide who has access to your e-maternity record and for how long.

The authorization function in your ePA app enables you to grant the practice providing services access to your electronic maternity record – for individual medical check-ups or the duration of the pregnancy. Otherwise, no one can view your e-maternity record as all documents are end-to-end encrypted.

As with the printed maternity record, the electronic version is also based on the maternity regulations established by the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA).

These regulate the medical care of insured parties during their pregnancy and after childbirth, in particular the scope and time of the services and the involvement of midwives.

The maternity record contains all of the mother’s important health data, such as her blood group and examination results in relation to infections, but also information about the child’s pre-birth (antenatal) development and expected date of birth. This data provides important information for the birth or during medical emergencies.

If you have any questions about the structure or use of the electronic maternity record, please contact your health insurance provider.