ENPublic hospitals in Germany are only part of the picture: a German hospital can belong to a city or federal state, a church or charity, or a private company, and all of them work under the same hospital legislation.
Patients from abroad usually ask two things: who is behind the hospital, and will anyone speak English with me. Both are answered below.
A List of Public Hospitals in Germany: Who Owns Them
There is no single list of public hospitals in Germany made for patients: official records sort hospitals by federal state and owner, and the practical route is the department, not the list. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), Germany had 1,807 hospitals in 2025: 529 public, 549 non-profit and 729 private, with the public ones holding almost half of all beds, 222,343 of 468,803. Public owners are cities and districts, as with Stuttgart Hospital (Klinikum Stuttgart), which belongs to the city, or the municipal Nuremberg Hospital (Klinikum Nürnberg); they also include university hospitals in Germany, which as a rule are public institutions of the federal states.
Non-profit owners (freigemeinnützig) are church and charitable organisations, parishes, foundations and associations. Examples include the Catholic Marienkrankenhaus Hamburg, the Protestant Diakonie Hospital Stuttgart, owned by a deaconess institution and a foundation, and the German Red Cross hospitals in Berlin (DRK Kliniken Berlin), whose sole owner is the Berlin Red Cross nurses’ association. They are neither state-run nor profit-driven: Marienkrankenhaus says all its revenue goes straight back into medical care.
Ownership does not change the basic rules. Each federal state draws up its hospital plan, and the federal Hospital Financing Act (KHG) requires the diversity of hospital owners to be respected. University hospitals, hospitals in a state hospital plan and hospitals with a contract with the health insurance funds may treat statutory patients, whoever owns them. Each of them publishes an annual quality report on its departments, staff and equipment under the rules of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA). The WHO European Observatory describes the system as a whole in its health system review of Germany.
Private and Non-Profit Owners
Private owners do exist, and there are even more private hospitals than public ones: large private groups run hospitals of every size, including former municipal ones. Helios hospitals are an example: a private group within the German healthcare company Fresenius, ranging from large hospitals covering almost every specialty to narrow specialist centres. Helios Hospital Erfurt grew out of the city’s municipal hospital and later passed fully to Helios. Private ownership does not mean only privately insured patients are treated: a private hospital in a state hospital plan takes statutory patients just as a municipal one does.
Such a hospital differs from a Privatklinik in the narrow sense: a small clinic without approval to treat patients at the health insurance funds’ expense, which accepts only self-paying or privately insured patients, for example in aesthetic surgery or orthopaedics. How private healthcare in Germany works on the insurance side is explained separately.
Language: Will Anyone Speak English With Me
Often the doctors will, but no hospital in Germany is officially designated as English-speaking: the language depends on the department and the people, not on the owner. Our page on English-speaking hospitals in Germany covers this in detail.
English works best at university hospitals and large centres with an international patient office. Many doctors speak English, but nurses usually speak German, and discharge letters are usually in German.
Two things help: an interpreter at the key conversations, such as the consultation, the pre-operative talk and discharge, and medical reports translated in advance. There is also a separate page on English-speaking doctors in Germany.
What a Government Hospital in Germany Means for a Patient from Abroad
For a patient from abroad, ownership changes almost nothing: without German insurance you pay privately in any hospital, public, church or private, and the hospital issues an individual cost estimate (Kostenvoranschlag). In a hospital billing under the DRG system, the law requires general hospital services to be charged to all patients alike, and if insurance cover is not shown, the hospital may ask for advance payment.
So choose the department and its experience with your condition, not the owner. Patients looking for a government hospital in Germany sometimes mean a hospital run by the US military rather than a state-run one; our page on Kaiserslautern hospital and the US military hospital explains how a German hospital differs from the US military hospital nearby.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official list of public hospitals in Germany?
Not one made for patients. The Federal Statistical Office publishes a directory of all hospitals and rehabilitation facilities in Germany as an Excel file, with addresses, owner type and beds by department. It does not say which department suits your diagnosis: that is decided from your medical records.
Is treatment at a public hospital in Germany free for foreigners?
No. Treatment is paid for by insurance or by the patient, not by whoever owns the hospital. Without German insurance, a patient from abroad pays privately, in a public hospital just as in a church or private one, according to the hospital’s cost estimate, and the hospital may ask for payment in advance.
Do public hospitals in Germany accept patients from abroad?
Yes. University hospitals and large municipal hospitals accept patients from other countries, and many have an international patient office. The department reviews the records and scans, decides whether it can help and sends a cost estimate; after prepayment, the hospital sets a date and issues a visa invitation.
Is a church hospital in Germany a public hospital?
No. Church hospitals are non-profit (freigemeinnützig): they belong to church organisations, parishes or foundations, not to a city or a state. For a patient the difference is small: a church hospital in a state hospital plan follows the same rules as a municipal one, takes statutory patients and publishes a quality report.
How AlenMed Arranges Treatment in German Hospitals
We start from the diagnosis, not the owner: your records are translated into German and sent to departments in public, non-profit or private hospitals that fit the case. AlenMed’s 86 partner hospitals include all three groups.
The hospital prepares the cost estimate, and payment goes directly to it; after prepayment it issues the visa invitation, and an interpreter attends your appointments. Our office is in Munich, with partner hospitals across Germany.
This material is for reference only and is not an offer. The treatment plan is decided by a doctor at a face-to-face consultation.