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A medical tourism agency in Germany takes on the organisational side of the journey — everything between the decision to be treated by German doctors and the first appointment at the hospital. Treatment abroad is not only medicine: on that stretch stand a dozen tasks — documents, translation, the visa, tickets, somewhere to stay, the journey to the hospital. And the trip itself is different: its purpose is an examination, an operation or a second opinion, not a holiday.
Below is what AlenMed takes on and how it works, in the order in which the tasks arise: the consultation and the choice of hospital, the cost estimate, invitation and visa, then travel, accommodation and free days, and finally the interpreter and the translated discharge report. Each service has its own detailed page, linked in the text, and all services are gathered in the cards at the bottom of the page.
Why a trip for treatment is not an ordinary trip
The main difference is that the dates are set by the hospital, not by a travel agency: an appointment is given only after the doctor has reviewed the documents and decided what the patient needs, in which department and in what order. So it makes no sense to start by buying tickets. If information is missing, the doctor will ask for recent test results or another examination, and the date will move — a normal part of preparation, not anyone’s slowness.
The second difference is money. Without German health insurance you pay for treatment yourself, according to the hospital’s estimate, and know in advance which procedures it covers. Organisational services such as translation or the airport pick-up are paid for separately and shown in the documents as their own line, not hidden in the bill for treatment. If you are quoted one sum «for everything», ask for a breakdown: it shows how much is medicine and how much is the intermediary’s work.
The third is that the plan can change. An examination on site sometimes shows what the documents from home did not: another test is needed, the doctor suggests a different approach, treatment or recovery takes longer. Allow for this in advance: accommodation that can be extended, a changeable return ticket, a visa whose length rests on the real treatment plan. Other destinations are the subject of a separate article on the leading countries in medical tourism.
First consultation and choosing a hospital
The first consultation is a conversation about the patient, not the hospital: the diagnosis, what confirms it, what has been done at home and which question needs an answer — confirming the diagnosis, a second opinion, an operation or rehabilitation. That decides which department and which specialist to write to. The first consultation with AlenMed is free and commits you to nothing. How arranging treatment in Germany works as a whole, from the first email to the return home, is described separately.
For a substantive answer the hospital needs documents: discharge letters, recent test results, CT and MRI scans on disc — the images themselves, not only the reports — and the histology report if there was a biopsy (histology is the examination of a tissue sample under a microscope), plus a list of current medicines with doses. Documents are translated into German by a medical translator, not by software: machine translation confuses terms, doses and abbreviations, and a mistake in a discharge letter may go unnoticed at the other end.
The hospital is chosen by the department that deals with exactly this problem and performs the procedure regularly; certification of a specialised centre is a further guide. Cancer centres, for example, are certified by the German Cancer Society, whose OncoMap search finds them by cancer type and postcode. A good answer from a doctor is concrete — what they propose, which tests will be repeated, how long the stay will be and what it will cost — not simply «come over». If only a German specialist’s view of the documents is needed, a video consultation or a second opinion in Germany on the documents alone will do, without travel.
Cost estimate, invitation and visa
Once the hospital is ready to accept the patient, it sends a preliminary cost estimate, the Kostenvoranschlag: the examinations and procedures with prices at the German tariff for private patients. The doctors’ part of the bill follows the Gebührenordnung für Ärzte (GOÄ), the official German schedule of medical fees, in which each service has a set number of points. The money goes to the hospital’s account, usually as a deposit before treatment; after discharge the hospital issues the final invoice and returns any unused part of the deposit.
The estimate and the hospital’s invitation are the basis of the visa application: they show the consulate why the person is travelling, when and for how long they are expected, and what treatment will cost. Which other documents are required and how long a decision takes is up to the consulate, not the agency or the hospital, and requirements differ between missions. How to put the application together and choose the right visa is explained on the page about the medical visa for Germany.
Travel, airport pick-up, accommodation and free time
Tickets are bought once the appointment date and the visa are both confirmed: bought earlier, any postponement means changing flights. On arrival the patient is met at the airport and taken to the hospital or the accommodation; if walking is difficult or a wheelchair is needed, say so in advance. The airport pick-up and accommodation are described in detail on a separate page.
Accommodation is found near the hospital: a hotel or an apartment for outpatient examinations, when the patient attends appointments but sleeps elsewhere, and for the companion — the relative who came along — during an inpatient stay. Closeness matters more than stars: an early appointment on an empty stomach or a daily visit to the ward is easier on foot than across town. An apartment with a kitchen suits a longer stay or a whole family. The patient pays for accommodation directly.
Between appointments there are free days, while results are prepared or the doctors discuss the treatment plan. If the doctor agrees, they can be spent quietly — a walk around the city, an excursion, a concert or a museum — and this too can be arranged in advance. An urgent flight, or transport lying down with medical staff, is a separate emergency service with its own rules.
Interpreters and support in hospital
An interpreter is needed wherever doctor and patient discuss decisions: at consultations, on ward rounds and above all when consent forms are signed. The German Civil Code requires the explanation before a medical procedure to be understandable to the patient, and that takes someone who knows medical terms in both languages. An acquaintance with good German is no substitute: they may not know the names of procedures, may soften bad news out of pity or leave out what seemed unimportant. The page on medical interpreters and support has the details.
On discharge the patient receives the doctor’s report in German. It is translated into the patient’s language so that the doctor at home knows what was done, what was prescribed and when a check-up is due. Take the hospital’s scans home too, on a disc, just as you brought your own. If questions arise later, a video call with the operating surgeon can be arranged, so that follow-up at home is not guesswork.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a medical tourism agency charge?
The price depends on what the agency actually does, and it should be shown separately from the hospital’s bill. Translation, correspondence, the visa, the pick-up, accommodation and an interpreter are tasks of very different size, so the honest answer is a quote for the specific case, not one sum «for everything». Treatment itself is paid to the hospital according to its estimate; the agency’s work should not be hidden in the medical bill.
Can I contact a hospital directly, without an agency?
Yes: a patient can write to a German hospital and arrange an appointment on their own. Translation, correspondence, payment, the visa, tickets, accommodation and an interpreter then fall to the patient or the family. An agency makes sense when nobody has time for this, when an unfamiliar system is hard to navigate, or when the answers of several hospitals on one case need comparing.
How long does it take to organise the trip?
It depends less on the agency than on three steps: the hospital’s doctor reviews the documents and names a date, the hospital prepares the estimate and invitation, and the consulate processes the visa. An agency speeds up what depends on it — collecting and translating documents quickly, keeping correspondence moving, answering the hospital’s questions at once. Urgent cases are organised differently, as emergency assistance with its own rules.
What is the agency responsible for, and what is the hospital responsible for?
The hospital and the treating doctor are responsible for the treatment; the agency is responsible for the organisation around it. The doctor makes the diagnosis, chooses the approach and obtains consent, and the hospital issues the invoice. A medical tourism agency handles documents, translation, contact with the hospital, the visa, travel, accommodation and the interpreter, and should neither promise a result nor influence the doctor’s decisions.
Choosing among medical tourism companies in Germany: how AlenMed works
When comparing medical tourism companies in Germany, ask each of them four questions. Does payment for treatment go directly to the hospital? Are the agency’s fees shown as a separate line, with a clear price? Who is your contact person — one person for the whole journey, or someone new each time? Does the agency have an office in Germany where the people handling your case work? A medical tourism agency in Germany should answer these questions before any payment.
AlenMed works by the same rules: treatment is paid directly to the hospital, against its own estimate and invoice; organisational services appear as a separate line; each patient has one contact person for the whole journey. The company’s office is in Munich, at Funkerstraße 5. AlenMed has arranged treatment at German hospitals for patients from other countries since 2010; its 86 partner hospitals are in 38 cities across Germany. To request a consultation, write briefly about the situation and attach the latest medical documents — discharge letters, test results, scans and reports: they show what the hospital still needs for a substantive answer.
This material is for information only and is not an offer. Whether treatment is possible, its scope and approach are decided by a doctor after an in-person examination.
