It’s a good idea to have as much important personal information on hand as possible in case of medical emergencies. Many people have the health card with them at all times and, thanks to the chip, it can also store emergency information.

These include, for example, previous illnesses, the long-term use of medication or an intolerance to medication, existing implants or pregnancy. Data from contact persons who should be notified in the event of an emergency can also be stored. The health card can also save contact details for the doctors treating you if you wish.

In addition, personal declarations can be stored, for example where you keep your organ donation card, living will or power of attorney.

You cannot take action yourself and store the emergency data on the health card. Unlike the emergency data on your cell phone, you do not have write access to the health card chip.

If you want to store your emergency data on the electronic health card, you should contact your family doctor. He first conducts an explanation and can then save the necessary medical information – and, if desired, also contact persons who should be notified in an emergency, for example relatives or the treating doctor – on the card.

Important: Doctors may only access the emergency data in an emergency or with the consent of the insured person. It is also possible to additionally protect the emergency data with the card PIN of the health card if you have already requested it. In an emergency, doctors can read the data in any case.

If you already have an electronic patient file, you can also have the emergency data stored there.

The original of this article “Practical added value – what the health card can do, but hardly anyone knows” comes from chip.de.