How Telemedical is Driving the German Medical Cannabis Industry Forward

By Patrick Jordan, Chief Product and Technology Officer Bloomwell Group GmbH

As the saying goes, “There’s an app for that,” meaning that for almost any modern task or service, there is a digital application to address those needs. One of the areas that experienced exponential growth spurred by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic was an increasing number of various applications for telemedical healthcare. 

Advancements in telemedical technology have ultimately altered the typical physician-patient experience, allowing in-person consultations to be accessible online. Telemedicine has many benefits, from cost-effectiveness to increased time and efficiency in providing and receiving care. One of the markets that are bullish on telemedical cannabis technology is Germany. 

As of April 1, 2024, Germany passed the Cannabis Act (CanG), which rescheduled cannabis as a non-narcotic. This opened more doors for patients to access cannabis treatment for ailments while removing unnecessary administrative burdens for physicians. Since then, German tech companies have upped the ante on telemedical platforms, allowing for the digitization of the cannabis therapy process as a whole, spurring more patients to enter the market and not risk their health with contaminated or unsafe products on the illicit market. According to German medical cannabis company Bloomwell’s latest report of its series titled “The Cannabis Barometer – 2024 Medical Cannabis Market Trends in Germany,” in December 2024, spurred by reclassification, over 1,000 percent more prescriptions were issued on the company’s telemedical platform than in March.

Despite this, Germany still has yet to reach the full potential telemedicine can hold in the medical cannabis space and reach a valuable untapped market–those who are using cannabis for wellness purposes but still accessing cannabis on the illicit market. An earlier report of Bloomwell’s Cannabis Barometer series released in September 2024 revealed that the majority of Germans surveyed who use cannabis consume it for medical or health reasons. However, only 10 percent of respondents exclusively obtained cannabis legally from a pharmacy within the last year. Almost 60% of German consumers continue to obtain their cannabis on the illicit market, often despite their concerns about poor quality and potential health risks of contaminated products.

By furthering innovation in this space to streamline processes, personalize to adhere to and anticipate patient needs and make these platforms even more accessible and efficient, Germany has the potential to lead the world in cannabis technology market integration.

Benefits of Telemedicine Innovation: Convenience for Physicians and Patients Alike

Telemedical platforms offer convenience for patients and physicians who prescribe their treatment. Due to the social distancing and shelter-in-place limitations wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine gained significant popularity because it allowed patients to access needed medical care from the comfort of their homes. This was an extremely valuable option for patients who lived in rural or isolated areas and had geographic limitations in accessing healthcare professionals for their medical needs.

Increased Speed and Efficiency

Telemedicine platforms offer various features that improve patient experience and expedite healthcare processes. Appointment schedule integrations and automated reminder integrations keep consultation schedules on track. Platforms allow physicians to easily record and store digital medical notes and records, schedule follow-ups, and address patient concerns without face-to-face visits.

Reduction in Costs

Telemedicine not only increases patient convenience but also reduces the costs associated with traveling, taking time off work, and childcare needed for in-person appointments. This significantly decreases the required overhead capital for physicians to fulfill in-person visits, such as administrative burdens and physical infrastructure like offices and clinics. 

How Today’s Platforms Enable Safe, Fully-Digitized Patient Experiences

In medical-led cannabis markets, such as those within Europe, physicians, patients, wholesalers and pharmacies have come to rely on telemedical platforms to serve as centralized medical cannabis hubs.

Today’s medical cannabis platforms connect physicians, patients, pharmacies and distributors in one easy-to-use digital and mobile application. These platforms seek to optimize the patient journey by increasing convenience, efficiency and speed. With continuous legalization efforts driving market growth, companies driving this technology are positioned to adapt to larger scales and integrate even more innovative features over the long haul.

The Tech Behind the Platform

High-quality telemedical platforms take years of intensive IT development and continuous integrations to update the technology to meet the transformative needs of the highly regulated medical cannabis industry. To digitize the entire patient journey–from consultations to filling prescriptions–these platforms must have the capability to connect physicians, distributors, partner pharmacies and patients. In addition to tracking each step across the value chain, major platforms must be able to record the process for tens of thousands of cannabis patients every month. For many telemedical platforms, companies have made their platforms available to patients both as mobile and desktop applications.

Challenges Faced When Mapping the Patient Journey

Different medical cannabis markets have different regulations in place that can create challenges for tech companies who are seeking to map the patient journey on their platforms. For example, German pharmacists are required to review and package medical cannabis prescriptions themselves. This requires manual input from pharmacists, which poses operational and logistical challenges compared to the delivery of standardized pre-manufactured medicinal products (e.g., medical pills).

To address this, telemedical cannabis platforms like Bloomwell created an order and inventory management system for partner pharmacies. The company’s internal system allows these manual tasks to be recorded and tracked seamlessly on the platform throughout the patient journey.

Real-Time Inventory

Many of these telemedical platforms have the capability to offer patients and providers a wide selection of premium cannabis treatments from a range of manufacturers and cultivators. In cannabis, each plant strain can provide a different wellness benefit that physicians can choose from to meet the needs of patients. In Germany, all medical cannabis must adhere to the rigorous regulations of the European Union-Good Manufacturing Practice (EU GMP) certification and the Good Agricultural and Collection Practice (GACP). These manufacturing standards require oversight of safe practices across all stages of production.

Some telemedical cannabis platforms have live inventory features that allow physicians and patients to view the availability of cannabis flower treatment, as well as vape or capsule product options, in real-time. Platforms can display valuable information to users, including the type of strain, THC and CBD content, country of origin where the cannabis was imported from and whether it is radiated or non-radiated. It can also show the price per gram and availability at partner pharmacies. Many of these treatments are able to be shipped quickly and securely to the patient’s home. Patients also always have the option of fulfilling their prescriptions at partner pharmacies or any other German pharmacy of their choice.

Safeguards

One of the top priorities in the passage of CanG was to prevent minors from accessing cannabis. For this reason, German telemedical platforms have built safeguards into their tech. For example, Bloomwell has ID-checks, which integrate an online age control system to prevent underage users from accessing medical cannabis.

Another safety process Bloomwell has in place is its D-Trust e-prescription feature. A subsidiary of Bundesdruckerei, D-Trust verifies all e-prescriptions issued via Bloomwell and creates unique documents that, unlike simple PDFs, cannot be redeemed multiple times. Among other things, Bundesdruckerei also prints Germany’s official passports.

Payment Integrations

Today’s digital cannabis platforms are often equipped with state-of-the-art payment processing integrations within the app. These platforms can offer various payment functions such as credit card payment, purchase on account, direct debit and Apple Pay.

Telemedical Cannabis Tech Growth Potential

Telemedicine technology has transformed the way medical cannabis is accessible, prescribed, distributed and viewed as a medical treatment within Germany and other growing legalized markets. By integrating tech-forward features in these platforms, like video consultations, live inventories, unique e-prescriptions, ID checks and unique prescription generation, tech companies can offer advanced transparency and efficiency for physicians, patients and pharmacies within the space.

Given the expansion of established regulatory environments in Europe, continued demand for accessible, safe and high-quality medical treatments and the availability of untapped patient bases, these platforms are poised for long-term growth. However, to emerge as tech leaders in the space, these companies must have the capital and capacity to scale, adapt, and integrate innovative new features over time.

About Patrick Jordan, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Bloomwell Group GmbH
As Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO) of the Bloomwell Group, Patrick Jordan played a leading role in building the app and IT infrastructure of Bloomwell, Europe’s largest central platform for medical cannabis. Today, Bloomwell offers a central digital infrastructure to tens of thousands of cannabis patients, pharmacies, doctors and wholesalers every month. This is the result of several years of intensive IT development, and Patrick has been leading the further development of the app and infrastructure since 2022. Through innovation and the digitalization of the entire therapy process, Bloomwell ensures an effective and reliable supply of medical cannabis to patients and also contributes to the destigmatization of cannabis in medicine through data-based research activities based on real-world data. On request, patients can receive an individual e-prescription with a qualified remote signature from D-Trust, a company of Bundesdruckerei, via the Bloomwell platform. Before joining the Bloomwell Group, Patrick held a senior position at a large German pharmaceutical company and worked for several years for insurtech / fintech companies in Germany