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Guide

Choosing discharge management software.

In short: first clarify which step the software should support – planning within the hospital, the request to follow-up providers or both. Then introduction effort, regional reach, data protection and interfaces count. Have the workflow shown to you with test data.

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Which step should the software support?

Discharge management is more than searching for a follow-up provider: identifying the need, consent, prescriptions, medication plan and handover are part of it.

Some solutions support planning within the hospital, others the referral step to home care services and care providers. Clarify which gap you want to close.

List of criteria

  • Scope: which step is supported, what stays in existing systems?
  • Introduction: installation or browser, training effort, a fixed contact person
  • Regional reach: how many follow-up providers in your region can actually be reached?
  • Data protection: data processing agreement, requests without name and address, hosting location
  • Access: personal accounts for each person, roles, second factor at sign-in
  • Documentation: record of the search for care on the case
  • Interfaces: is a connection to existing systems needed, and who bears the effort?
  • Costs: licence, introduction, running costs – and who pays
  • Contract: term, notice, return of the data

Ask for evidence

For statements on data protection and security, ask what they refer to: the provider itself or only the data centre. Ask to see the data processing agreement in advance.

For reach, ask about your region, not about figures for the whole of Germany.

How to proceed

1. Set the goal

Describe which step you want to improve and how you will measure it.

2. Agree on requirements

Involve social services, nursing, IT and data protection early.

3. See the process

We will show you the process in a short call using invented sample cases.

4. Plan the start

Decide which team starts and from when.

Where Pflege Patienten fits

Pflege Patienten is digital support for follow-up care in discharge management – for the referral step. The platform runs in the browser; no additional software integration is required. It replaces neither your hospital software nor your own discharge documentation.

Read more: For hospitals and social services · Privacy and security

What this guide does not cover

This guide names no providers and compares no products. It does not replace a review by your IT and your data protection officer.

Read more: How Pflege Patienten works

Sources

Section 39 SGB V (German Social Code, Book V) – hospital treatment and discharge management (German)

Status

Pflege Patienten editorial team · Published 11 Oct 2026.

Editorial status: 11 October 2026. The linked sources were checked automatically. No independent professional or legal review of this article has taken place so far.

Further information: Federal Ministry of Health (German)

Get to know the workflow

We will show you the process in a short call using invented sample cases.

Request a presentation
For hospitals and social services