Stephani, VictorVictorStephaniBusse, ReinhardReinhardBusseGeissler, AlexanderAlexanderGeisslerKlauber, JürgenGeraedts, MaxFriedrich, JörgWasem, Jürgen2023-04-132023-04-132019https://www.alexandria.unisg.ch/handle/20.500.14171/9964710.1007/978-3-662-58225-1_2Digitalisation is finding its way into German hospitals. However, the level of information technology (IT) utilisation remains unclear. Therefore, this paper analyses the degree of digitalisation of German hospitals from an international perspective. For this purpose, the logic of the “Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model” (EMRAM) is used, which rates hospitals on a scale from 0 (no digitalisation) to 7 (paperless hospital). According to the EMRAM logic, German hospitals achieve an average value of 2.3 and are therefore digitised only below average compared to other countries. The gap to the European average (3.6) has also widened in recent years. Countries such as Turkey (3.8) or the USA (5.3) are much more advanced. Currently, there is not a single hospital at Level 7 in Germany. Other evaluation methods, such as the “European Hospital Survey”, confirm the results of EMRAM and show that Germany is increasingly losing ground in the digital field. The reasons for this poor balance include a lack of investment, data protection concerns, the user-unfriendliness of the IT systems used and the sluggish broadband expansion in Germany. It is important to define achievable goals and to use existing resources carefully for IT expansion. Only by creating uniform standards and a reliable IT infrastructure, new technologies can be implemented sustainably.debook section