Full electronic billing has been in productive operation in German home care since 1 December 2024: services are recorded on a mobile device, confirmed on screen and transmitted to the care fund in encrypted form through the telematics infrastructure (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI). The procedure becomes mandatory on 1 October 2027, when billing for the affected service types will run exclusively inside the telematics infrastructure in fully electronic form (GKV-Spitzenverband, Technical Annex 5, version 1.2.0). The originally agreed cut-off date of 1 December 2026 was rescheduled - one more reason to date every statement on this topic on your own website. For care services the change starts today all the same, because the tablet appears in the living room from the very first visit. This article shows how an explainer page in plain language answers the questions clients and families ask, where the boundary to the privacy notice runs, and why the paperless round belongs on the career page.
Key takeaways
- Fully electronic billing has been in productive operation since 1 December 2024; from 1 October 2027 it runs exclusively inside the telematics infrastructure (GKV-Spitzenverband). During the transition from 1 June to 30 September 2027, paper remains possible as a substitute.
- Affected are home care benefits (Section 36 SGB XI), respite care (Section 39), advisory visits (Section 37 (3)) and relief services (Section 45b). The sequence: personal login, on-site recording, legible display, monthly confirmation, encrypted transfer via KIM.
- The signature of an authorised representative counts the same as that of the person in care (GKV-Spitzenverband). If nobody on site can confirm, the record may be printed, sent and scanned back in; during technical faults paper is allowed for at most one billing month.
- The explainer page describes a process; it replaces neither legal advice nor the privacy notice: no statements on who holds authority in a given case, no absolute claims about device security. Three sentences on data transfer are enough.
- A page title such as Digital Service Recording matches real searches better than the official term, which needs only one mention in brackets. Add six to eight FAQ entries with structured data, a named contact with a tel link and a visible date of record.
- On the career page, three to five sentences without product names describe the digital setup: work device with personal login, documentation finished on site rather than at the office at night, plus onboarding and a named contact for questions.
What the electronic service record changes in practice
The legal basis is Section 105 SGB XI. Subsection 1 requires providers to document the services rendered by type, quantity and price including the day and time of delivery in machine-readable billing documents, stating their own identifier, the staff number and the insurance number (Sozialgesetzbuch XI). Subsection 2 delegates the details to an agreement between the national association of care funds and the provider associations - and that is where the electronic service record is defined (Sozialgesetzbuch XI). So the documentation duty is old; the route is new: from a paper record with a signature to an XML data set with a confirmation on a mobile device (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI).
The timeline is staged and set out in Technical Annex 5 to the joint specification. The test phase with test data has been running since 1 October 2026, the pilot phase with live data is scheduled for 1 February 2027 to 31 May 2027, and the transitional phase of productive operation for 1 June 2027 to 30 September 2027 (GKV-Spitzenverband, Technical Annex 5, version 1.2.0, dated 25 June 2026). During that transitional phase, paper-based transmission of supporting documents remains possible as a substitute (GKV-Spitzenverband, Technical Annex 5). From 1 October 2027, billing for the affected service types runs exclusively inside the telematics infrastructure in fully electronic form (GKV-Spitzenverband, Technical Annex 5).
The timeline at a glance
Four service types are affected: outpatient care services under Section 36 SGB XI, respite care under Section 39 SGB XI, advisory visits under Section 37 (3) SGB XI and relief services under Section 45b SGB XI; relief services are currently admissible in the fully electronic procedure only if they are provided by outpatient care providers (GKV-Spitzenverband, Technical Annex 5). The change therefore hits exactly the services families talk about most: daily basic care, cover when the usual carer is unavailable, and the monthly relief allowance.
Recording on site
The carer signs in to the mobile device with a personal account; recording takes place during or immediately after the service, and the staff number is assigned automatically (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI).
Confirmation instead of signature
The content is displayed in clearly legible form on the device so that its accuracy can be checked. The signature is captured on the mobile device and stored solely inside the record itself (GKV-Spitzenverband).
Transfer via KIM
Records and billing data reach the care fund through the secure KIM transmission service inside the telematics infrastructure; transmission outside the infrastructure is excluded (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI).
The technical groundwork was laid long ago. Residential and outpatient care facilities were to connect to the telematics infrastructure by 1 July 2025 (gematik). The obligation for providers to connect step by step goes back to the Digital Care Modernisation Act; the resulting costs are reimbursed (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit). Funding runs through the monthly TI allowance paid to outpatient and residential care facilities approved under Section 72 SGB XI (Sozialgesetzbuch XI, Section 106b). Anyone who already reflects regulatory dates on their website, for example around the quality inspection from July 2026, knows the pattern: the deadline itself is not a website topic, but its effect on daily life certainly is.
The questions that arrive with the tablet
The audience is large and older than average. As of 31 December 2023, close to 5.7 million people in Germany were in need of long-term care within the meaning of the care insurance act (Statistisches Bundesamt). Around 1.1 million of them were supported with the involvement of outpatient care services (Statistisches Bundesamt). Roughly 15,500 outpatient care services operate nationwide (Statistisches Bundesamt). Every one of those arrangements reaches the same moment during the changeover: the carer no longer puts paper on the table but holds out a device.
What follows is predictable. For decades the paper record served as a control instrument for relatives who are rarely on site: a list to count through, a sheet for the folder, evidence towards the care fund. When that sheet disappears, a gap opens that is not technical but communicative. The three questions below arrive in this order - and they arrive regardless of how well the software performs.
Who confirms in cases of dementia?
The most common worry concerns people who can no longer read or operate a screen reliably. The agreement answers it: the signature of an authorised representative carries equal weight (GKV-Spitzenverband).
Where is my record?
Families want to trace which services were delivered and when. The page should explain how the overview will be made available and who answers questions - without promising individual software features.
Who sees the data?
Transmission is encrypted and runs through the telematics infrastructure; transmission outside it is excluded (GKV-Spitzenverband). That single fact reassures precisely the people who would otherwise pick up the phone.
Why these questions land with the care management
The timing of the research is telling: relatives read in the evening, often on a smartphone, often right after a phone call with the person receiving care. To find out whether such pages are actually read, the article on metrics for a care website sets out a data-efficient measurement approach. How an explainer page fits into an existing navigation without breaking the structure is described in the article on structuring a care service website.
Building an explainer page for digital service recording
The page needs a name families understand. Digital service recording works better than electronic service record, because the technical term comes from the billing world and is rarely typed into a search box in that form. The official term still belongs in the text - once, in brackets, so the page is also found by people who know it. Everything else is translation work: process, representation, record, contact person.
- The carer signs in to the mobile device with a personal account before the visit begins (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI)
- Services are recorded during or immediately after delivery, and the staff number is assigned automatically (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- The content is displayed in clearly legible form on the device so that its accuracy can be checked (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- Confirmation takes place once a month, at the end of the month or at the beginning of the following one (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- After confirmation the data set is signed electronically and can no longer be changed; corrections create a new version that is confirmed again (GKV-Spitzenverband)
Those five steps form the core of the page. Around them belong the details that make follow-up calls unnecessary: the planned changeover date of your own service, how the transitional phase is handled, a named contact with a clickable phone number, and a note on what does not change for clients. That last point is regularly forgotten, yet it is the most effective one: scope of services, visiting times and contact people stay the same.
- Page title in plain language, with the official term mentioned once in brackets
- The process in five steps, each step in one sentence without jargon
- A paragraph on confirmation by authorised representatives or legal guardians
- A paragraph on the record: how the overview is provided and who explains it on request
- Your own changeover date with a last-updated note, transitional phase named openly
- Named contact person, phone number as a tel link, call-back option
- Reference to the privacy notice as the legally authoritative place
- FAQ block with structured data at the end of the page
| Topic | Wording from the technical world | Wording for the explainer page |
|---|---|---|
| Procedure | Fully electronic billing under Section 105 SGB XI | Services are recorded on a tablet right at your home |
| Confirmation | Signature-replacing alternative procedure | You confirm the overview on screen, just as you signed before |
| Representation | Authorised representative under clause 8 of the agreement | An authorised person or legal guardian can confirm as well |
| Transmission | Transfer via KIM inside the telematics infrastructure | The data reaches your care fund encrypted, without a detour via email |
| Rhythm | Signature once a month at the end of the month | Confirmation happens once a month, not at every visit |
| Correction | Copy with final status after a renewed signature | If something was recorded incorrectly, the record is corrected and confirmed again |
Confirmation, power of attorney and the dementia case
This section decides whether the page builds trust or unsettles people. The agreement is unambiguous here: the signature is captured on the mobile device and may not be stored anywhere other than in the electronic service record being signed (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI). And it addresses representation explicitly.
The signature of an authorised representative - including via a relatives app - carries the same weight as the signature of the person receiving care.
For cases where nobody can confirm during the visit, the agreement provides a way out: in individual cases the complete service record may be printed, sent to the authorised representative and scanned back in on receipt (GKV-Spitzenverband). Faults are covered too - where the internet connection, the software or the hardware fails, transmission on paper remains possible, though for no longer than one billing month (GKV-Spitzenverband). Both belong on the explainer page in a single sentence, because they dissolve the fear that operations grind to a halt in an emergency.
Where the explainer page reaches its limit
- Who may confirm: the person receiving care or an authorised representative, both carrying equal weight (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- When confirmation happens: once a month, at the end of the month or the beginning of the next (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- What happens if nobody can confirm on site: printing, sending and scanning back in individual cases (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- What applies in the event of technical faults: paper for no longer than one billing month (GKV-Spitzenverband)
- What stays the same: scope of services, visiting times, contact people and availability
- Where questions go: a named person with a phone number and a call-back option
Explaining data protection without replacing the privacy notice
The most common mistake here is mixing two kinds of text. The explainer page informs people about a process; the privacy notice fulfils the information duties under the General Data Protection Regulation. Copying legal text into the explainer page makes it unreadable; treating the explainer page as a substitute for mandatory information creates legal risk. The clean solution is a clear division of labour with a descriptive link in both directions. How sensitively forms and consent have to be handled in care is shown in the article on data protection in care forms.
| Content | Explainer page on digital service recording | Privacy notice |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Plain language, short sentences | Legal language with mandatory details |
| Purpose | Make the process understandable | Fulfil information duties |
| Transmission route | Encrypted to the care fund, without detours | Recipients, legal basis, retention period |
| Data subject rights | A note with a link | Full presentation |
| Contact | Care management with phone number | Controller and data protection officer |
| Updates | Whenever the process changes, with a date | Whenever the processing changes |
Three sentences are enough on the explainer page: the service data is collected for billing, it is transmitted to the care fund in encrypted form inside the telematics infrastructure, and transmission outside that infrastructure is excluded (GKV-Spitzenverband, agreement under Section 105 (2) sentence 2 SGB XI). Add one sentence on the signature, which is stored solely inside the respective service record (GKV-Spitzenverband). The page needs no more than that - every further line belongs in the privacy notice.
One sentence that halves the questions
FAQ block and structured data for the changeover
From autumn 2026 onwards, search volume on this topic rises, because the first services visibly switch over and relatives look for explanations. People search in full sentences: who signs the service record in cases of dementia, will I still get a record on paper, is electronic recording mandatory. An FAQ block with structured data answers exactly those questions compactly and makes the page quotable for answer engines. Six to eight questions are enough; each answer in two to four sentences, each figure with a source.
- From when does the change apply, and what changes for me as a client
- Who confirms if the person receiving care cannot do so themselves
- Which services are affected - care services, respite care, relief services
- Will I still receive an overview of the services delivered
- Where does the data go and by which route
- What happens if the technology fails
- Who do I contact with questions, and how do I reach that person
- Does anything change about prices, visiting times or contact people
The block has to stay readable, including for eyes looking at a smartphone without reading glasses. Adequate font sizes, strong contrast and keyboard operability are not an extra here but a precondition - the same requirements an accessible care website has to meet anyway. Anyone running a general FAQ page should link the questions there rather than duplicate them; duplicate questions across a site weaken both pages.
Showing paperless rounds on the career page
The second audience for this topic does not sit in the living room but reads job adverts. Applicants in care have long assessed more than pay and rota; they assess how a service is organised. Digital equipment is a tangible argument here: anyone who completes documentation at the point of care leaves the round without a pile of paper and without catch-up work at the office. Exactly that belongs visibly on the career page - not as praise for technology, but as a description of everyday work.
Name the equipment
A work device, a personal login and mobile recording are concrete details. They describe the workplace more precisely than any adjective and can be verified in the interview.
Make time visible
Documentation at the point of care instead of in the office at night is a statement about working time, not about software. It resonates with people who know unpaid catch-up work from previous jobs.
Mention the onboarding
Describing how new colleagues are introduced to the procedure and who is available for questions removes the biggest hurdle for applicants who are sceptical about technology.
- A section on digital equipment on the career page, three to five sentences, without product names
- One sentence on onboarding and on who answers questions about the procedure
- A pointer to the client-facing explainer page so applicants see the external presentation
- Include the topic in your job adverts so it appears in the advert itself
- No promises about device classes or equipment standards that may change at short notice
The effect is not spectacular, but it shows in the quality of applications: people who know the way of working in advance apply more deliberately. Which other building blocks a care career page needs is described in the article on recruiting staff through your own website.
Update dates, your own timing and an honest transition
An explainer page about an ongoing changeover ages faster than any other subpage. A text referring to a cut-off date in December 2026 looks careless in 2027, even though it was correct when published. The page therefore needs three things: a visible last-updated date, your own changeover date, and an honest description of the transitional phase. Anyone still working partly on paper during that phase should say so; it is explicitly provided for until 30 September 2027 (GKV-Spitzenverband, Technical Annex 5).
| Trigger | What to check | Rhythm |
|---|---|---|
| New version of the technical annex | Reconcile dates, phases and statutory references | As required |
| Own changeover date confirmed | Add the date and a last-updated note to the page | Once, then on change |
| First visits with a device | Extend the FAQ with the questions actually asked | Monthly during ramp-up |
| End of the transitional phase | Remove or adjust wording about paper handling | On the cut-off date |
| Change of contact person | Update name, phone number and call-back note | As required |
| Change on the career page | Align the section on digital equipment | Every six months |
Whether the page works can be judged with a handful of figures: views of the explainer page, the share of visits that lead on to contact, and the number of calls still coming in on the subject. The article on metrics for a care website describes how to capture that with minimal data. So the page does not fall asleep after the first quarter, it belongs in ongoing website maintenance with a fixed review date.
Implementation in twelve weeks
The plan below is cut so that something usable is online after every stage. It assumes the website already has a solid structure with maintained service pages; if not, that step comes first, because an explainer page without a link to the service presentation has little effect.
- Week 1: Settle the internal facts - your own changeover date, affected service types, contact person
- Week 2: Create the digital service recording page, write the process in five steps, set the update date
- Week 3: Add the section on confirmation by authorised representatives, worded neutrally
- Week 4: Write the sections on the record and the transitional phase, naming paper handling honestly
- Week 5: Cut the data protection paragraph to three sentences and link descriptively to the privacy notice
- Week 6: Add the contact person with a tel link and call-back option, check availability times
- Week 7: Add the FAQ block with six to eight questions and output structured data
- Week 8: Set internal links from the service pages to the explainer page and back
- Week 9: Extend the career page with the section on digital equipment
- Week 10: Check readability - font sizes, contrast, keyboard operation, smartphone rendering
- Week 11: Proofread the wording against absolute claims and product promises
- Week 12: Schedule the review date, define measurement points, brief the team on the page
Anyone planning the changeover anyway should combine it with the next step in their external presentation: a website for outpatient care services only supports the explainer page if scope of services, catchment area and availability are described just as precisely. If you would rather not write structure, copy and FAQ yourself, the scope and schedule are best clarified in an initial conversation about the explainer page.
Sources and studies