ENWhen treatment in Germany comes up, Berlin is usually named first, but what matters is whether a department here handles your diagnosis. The name is familiar, flights are easy and the airport transfer is short, yet reputation says nothing about who treats cases like yours. University, municipal and specialised medicine sit side by side here: the choice is wide, yet not every diagnosis is treated in Berlin.
Below: how the city’s medicine is organised, which specialties bring patients here, how admission works and what the invoice is built from — orientation, not a ranking or a promise of results.
How medicine in Berlin is organised
Medicine in Berlin rests on three levels: the Charité university hospital, the city-owned Vivantes network, formed in 2001 from Berlin’s municipal hospitals, and specialised centres with their own profiles. The city also hosts the Robert Koch Institute, the federal public health institute, which collects and analyses data and identifies health risks; it is a scientific body, not a hospital.
The German Heart Center at the Charité (DHZC) was created in early 2023 by merging the cardiac units of the Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin and the Charité; it has seven departments and 470 beds. Vivantes Klinikum im Friedrichshain was Berlin’s first municipal hospital, founded in 1874. The Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, a trauma hospital opened in 1997, has more than 730 beds, admits severely injured patients from all over Germany and runs a centre for severe burns. Other hospitals are described in Hospitals in Berlin.
For a patient, this means a university admissions office, a municipal hospital and a specialist centre in one city, and your records decide who takes your case.
Which specialties people travel to Berlin for
Patients come to Berlin for cardiology and cardiac surgery, oncology and gynaecology, trauma, burns and neurology, among others. Heart disease is the work of the German Heart Center at the Charité, whose medical directorate is led by cardiac surgeon Professor Volkmar Falk, with cardiologist Professor Ulf Landmesser as deputy. It also has departments for congenital heart defects and cardiac anaesthesiology (anaesthesia and intensive care in heart surgery).
In oncology and gynaecology, the list names Charité Hospital Berlin. Its gynaecology clinic with a breast centre is headed by Professor Jens-Uwe Blohmer, and its nuclear medicine clinic by Professor Winfried Brenner; patients are referred there for PET/CT and PET/MRI, scans that also show tissue metabolism and help to locate tumours.
The third group is trauma, burns and neurology, plus digestive diseases. At the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin, Dr Ingo Schmehl heads the neurology clinic with its stroke unit and early rehabilitation; a stroke unit is a ward where acute stroke is treated and monitored around the clock. At Vivantes, Professor Ulrich Adam heads general and visceral (abdominal) surgery at the Humboldt-Klinikum, and Professor Mario Anders gastroenterology at the Auguste-Viktoria-Klinikum. This shows the city’s profile, not a ranking of doctors.
How admission works for a foreign patient
Admission starts with records, not a plane ticket: translated discharge summaries and DICOM imaging (original digital files, not screen photos) go to the department, the doctor replies whether the case is theirs, and only then is a date set. The first appointment is often outpatient, and admission is decided on its results.
German doctors often repeat key tests in the first days and have the histology, the tissue samples behind the diagnosis, re-examined, so diagnostics can take a week — not a delay, but the basis of the plan.
A medical interpreter attends appointments. Documents are issued in German, and the discharge report for your doctors at home must be requested separately; ask in advance who interprets and whether that is in the estimate.
How long the trip takes and what the invoice is built from
Timing depends on the department’s answer, the appointment date and the visa; costs are the medical invoice plus living expenses. The invoice follows two German catalogues: the GOÄ fee schedule for outpatient appointments and the DRG system for inpatient care, where diagnosis and procedure set the price. Citizenship plays no part: by law, a hospital must charge all patients the same for general hospital services. Your exact figure comes only in the hospital’s written estimate (Kostenvoranschlag).
Each step takes time, so plan from the hospital’s written answer, not a preferred date. Outside the medical invoice you pay for accommodation, local transport, a visa extension if treatment runs longer, and translations beyond the programme; see Medical tourism in Berlin.
Berlin is neither cheaper nor more expensive by definition: the GOÄ and the DRG catalogue apply nationwide, and invoices differ by the extent of the procedure and the days on the ward, not the hospital’s address.
Frequently asked questions
Is treatment in Berlin more expensive than elsewhere in Germany?
Not necessarily. Outpatient appointments are billed under the GOÄ and inpatient care under the DRG catalogue, both nationwide. The total depends on the procedure and the days on the ward, not the city. Accommodation and travel come on top, so compare written estimates for your case, not cities.
How long should I plan to stay in Berlin?
It depends on the diagnosis and the treatment plan, which become clear once the department has replied. Trips often start with an outpatient appointment, after which the doctor decides on admission. If tests are repeated or the histology reviewed, a week can go on diagnostics alone.
Can I be treated in Berlin without speaking German?
Yes, with a medical interpreter at your appointments who renders what the doctor says and passes on your questions. Documents are issued in German, so order a translation of the discharge report early and check who will interpret and whether this is in the estimate.
How AlenMed arranges treatment in Berlin
The work starts from your records: discharge summaries, imaging and histology. We translate them and send them to Berlin departments; the hospital replies with an estimate, and the official visa invitation letter comes with it.
AlenMed works with 86 partner hospitals in 38 cities and 345 doctors; the company office is in Munich. If Berlin lacks the right department, the case goes to another city rather than being forced to fit; the same applies to treatment in Munich or anywhere else. A coordinator meets you, interprets at appointments and collects the discharge report and follow-up plan.
This material is for information only and is not an offer. Treatment tactics are decided by a doctor at an in-person consultation.