Dispute with the Ministry

Parent-Child Health Passport: Doctors Now Call for a Boycott

The Vienna Medical Association intends to offer the new services only after State Secretary Ulrike Königsberger-Ludwig (SPÖ) has clarified all outstanding issues.(Bild: Andi Schiel)

The chaos surrounding the new Parent-Child Health Record continues. Just a few days before the launch of the expanded screening program, Vienna’s doctors are pulling the emergency brake and recommending that the new services not be implemented for the time being. The Medical Association has leveled serious accusations, which the Ministry firmly rejects.

With the digitization of the Parent-Child Health Record, the Ministry of Health also expanded the screening program for pregnant women. New features starting October 1 include additional health consultations, an extra ultrasound appointment toward the end of pregnancy, and additional lab tests. Midwife counseling is also being expanded, and greater attention is to be paid to mental health challenges during pregnancy.

Shortly before the launch, however, the Vienna Medical Association is putting up a fight. In a letter obtained by the “Krone,” “the Association recommends that its Vienna colleagues refrain from implementing the new eEKP services for the time being until the matter is fully clarified.”

Billing Not Possible; Supplementary Booklets Missing
According to the Medical Association, essential prerequisites for their implementation are still missing. “As long as the relevant contractual foundations have not been finalized, the new services cannot be implemented,” the letter states. Billing through the Austrian Health Insurance Fund is also not yet guaranteed. The corresponding billing codes would first have to be integrated into the systems by the providers of the practice management software.

State Secretary Ulrike Königsberger-Ludwig is once again facing a barrage of criticism over the electronic parent-child health record.(Bild: Imre Antal)

In addition, many medical practices still lack the necessary supplementary booklets in which the new examinations are to be recorded. As previously reported, these had become necessary in the first place as a temporary solution because the electronic parent-child health record was not completed on time. Its mandatory introduction was therefore postponed by one year to October 2027. The Ministry of Health still intended to launch the new examination program as planned on October 1, 2026—on paper until digitization is complete.

But even these paper booklets had not yet arrived everywhere just a few days before the launch. “Even about a week before the start, Vienna’s medical practices are still waiting for these supplementary booklets,” the Chamber criticizes.

Consequently, the Chamber’s criticism of the Ministry of Health is scathing. The Ministry had “years” to prepare the expanded examination program, the Chamber argues, but those responsible “completely failed” to do so. Doctors were neither involved in a timely manner nor given sufficient time to adjust the necessary procedures in their practices. The launch of the electronic parent-child health record has, in fact, “failed miserably.”

However, the Ministry of Health refuses to accept these accusations. “We firmly reject the accusations made by the Vienna Medical Association,” according to a statement from the office of State Secretary for Health Ulrike Königsberger-Ludwig (SPÖ).

What’s more: Just 14 days ago, officials met with representatives from all federal medical associations and the social insurance agency. During that meeting, “precisely those issues” that are now being criticized by the Vienna Medical Association were “discussed in detail.” According to the State Secretary’s office, the Chamber representatives themselves had stated at the time that the issues had been “resolved satisfactorily.” “This makes the current criticism all the more surprising to us.”

The ministry also strongly refutes the accusation that the necessary supplementary booklets are missing. The claim is “simply false.” The booklets were already delivered to the relevant authorities in the federal states on September 21. At the same time, the Medical Association was informed about how doctors can obtain the booklets.

Pregnant women and parents must not now be made to suffer the consequences of this political failure.

Ralph Schallmeiner, grüner Gesundheitssprecher

Bild: Thomas Topf

And Königsberger-Ludwig’s office passes the buck back to the Medical Association: After all, it is their “legal duty” to inform their members. As early as August, the ministry had explicitly asked the Medical Association to inform doctors in writing about the changes. “The ministry is providing all the necessary information. However, passing it on to doctors is the responsibility of the Medical Association.”

“Anyone who stokes additional uncertainty right now is sending exactly the wrong signal.” After all, the health of pregnant women and children is at stake.

“That is simply irresponsible.”
“In the end, parents are the ones footing the bill for this government chaos,” says Ralph Schallmeiner, the Green Party’s health spokesperson, with frustration.

Schallmeiner is holding State Secretary for Health Ulrike Königsberger-Ludwig (SPÖ) accountable and has submitted a parliamentary inquiry on the matter. Pregnant women and parents should not now be “the ones to suffer the consequences of this political failure.”