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A telemedicine consultation in Germany is a video call with a hospital doctor who has studied your records and scans in advance. It fits the moment when the diagnosis has been made, a plan proposed and questions abound: travelling is still premature, but not understanding is no longer bearable. A written second opinion does not answer everything — you want to hear the doctor and ask your own question.
Below: the German rules, when a video call helps and where it stops, how it runs, what it costs and how AlenMed arranges it.
Telemedicine in Germany: What a Doctor May Do
Telemedicine in Germany is permitted within limits: in individual cases a doctor may advise and treat a patient purely at a distance, if this is medically justifiable, due care is taken and the patient is informed about the particularities of this format. Until 2018 this was not allowed, and a doctor could not advise a patient they had never seen. That year the German Medical Assembly amended § 7 of the Model Professional Code for Physicians to allow this, including with patients the doctor has not met before, and the rule still applies.
For a patient abroad, a video call with a German doctor is therefore a legitimate medical consultation. Its scope is for the doctor to set: what can be judged without an examination is decided case by case, and the doctor may decline conclusions that need one.
When a Video Consultation Genuinely Helps
A video consultation helps in three typical situations. The first is before the trip: you need to know whether the hospital will take your case, what it would propose and whether there is any point in coming at all. Sometimes the conversation ends with an honest “in your situation you do not need to travel, the same thing is done at home” — and that is a result too.
The second is clarifying the plan. If an operation has been proposed at home and you want to know whether there is a less invasive route, a conversation with the relevant German specialist gives you a basis for your own decision. If data are missing, the talk turns to further tests — with a tumour, for example, to cancer diagnosis in Germany.
The third is follow-up after treatment. You are back home, you have had your check-up, and the surgeon who operated looks at the fresh results and says whether recovery is going as expected. That saves a whole trip for a fifteen-minute conversation.
What a Telemedicine Consultation Cannot Replace
A telemedicine consultation replaces neither an in-person examination nor treatment — let us say it plainly, because it matters more than any selling point. A doctor on a video call cannot examine you with their hands, cannot do an ultrasound, cannot take a biopsy. They work with what is already documented. A final diagnosis and a decision about an operation are therefore not made by video — this is a conversation about what is known and about what should be established next.
How the Consultation Runs and What It Costs
Documents come first, then the video call, and the price is set by the hospital in advance. You send discharge letters, test results, reports and CT or MRI scans. Important: the actual image files are needed, not a photograph of the report — the German doctor looks at the images themselves. We translate the documents into German and send them to the hospital in advance so that the doctor has time to study them before the call.
Then the time is agreed. Bear in mind the time difference: the slot follows the hospital’s schedule, not a convenient evening. A consultation usually lasts 15 to 20 minutes, so write your questions down in advance, in order of importance. An interpreter is on the call throughout, so you need no German; if you later come for treatment, you will have a medical interpreter and personal support at your appointments in person. Afterwards we send you a written summary in English: details fade quickly, and serious decisions rest on them.
The consultation is charged by the hospital providing it, and the cost is stated beforehand. If you then come for treatment and the consultation was part of the agreement with the hospital, it is taken into account in the overall invoice. A consultation ordered on its own is paid for separately. You will need a device with a camera and microphone and a stable internet connection — an ordinary laptop or smartphone will do. We send the link and instructions in advance and, if you like, test the connection before the call.
Frequently asked questions
Can a German doctor make a diagnosis by video?
No final diagnosis is made by video. Working from the records and scans you already have, the doctor can say whether these support the diagnosis made at home, which data are missing and which test is worth doing. A decision on surgery follows an in-person examination.
Can a relative join the video call?
Yes, if both you and the doctor agree. German professional rules allow family members and other persons to be present during examination and treatment with the consent of the responsible doctor and the patient. Your relative will not need to interpret: an interpreter is on the call throughout.
How much does a telemedicine consultation cost, and who pays?
The hospital providing the consultation sets the price and states it before the call; you pay that hospital. If the consultation was part of the treatment agreement and you then come for treatment, it counts towards the overall invoice. The cost of AlenMed’s organising work is discussed separately and in advance.
How AlenMed Arranges a Telemedicine Consultation
AlenMed handles everything around the conversation; the hospital doctor leads it. We check the records for missing data, then look for a specialist whose department treats your condition as its main field, among the doctors we work with. If you need a written review of all the materials rather than a conversation, choose a second opinion from a German doctor.
Then come translation, scheduling, the interpreter and the written summary. If you decide to travel after the call, the next steps are visa support, personal support on site and arranging treatment in Germany. The company office is in Munich; the partner hospitals are across Germany — 86 hospitals in 38 cities.
This material is for information only and is not an offer. The final diagnosis and treatment plan are set by a doctor in person. AlenMed provides organisational and translation services and does not practise medicine.