Online Doctor Consultation at TeleClinic

Video consultations online are a new phenomenon but on the increase in Germany. More than 25,000 practices have integrated video consultations into their services, according to the Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung, the German Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted many doctors to offer additional digital services. TeleClinic is an established provider of online medical advice. Our medical experts are GPs and specialist doctors licensed in Germany.

Yes you do, even if your insurance at home covers you in Germany, health insurance is obligatory. As an employee you will most likely benefit from statutory health insurance, with your employer covering half the cost. If you are studying in Germany, you can apply for special student rates.

The prices for consulting an online doctor in Germany do not differ for foreigners – as an expat, you will pay the standard consultation fee, plus a surcharge for consultations at night or during the weekend.

You can access an online doctor in just a few easy steps:
1. Register free of charge on the TeleClinic website or via the mobile app.
2. Complete the medical questionnaire with basic information about your health and choose whether you need a prescription, a referral or sick note.
3. For the video consultation, you need to download the TeleClinic app. The app is free and also makes managing your prescriptions and appointments easy.
4. Consult your chosen doctor at the agreed time online via the app and discuss all your concerns.

In general, yes. The information given in the medical questionnaire will be forwarded to our medical staff and checked by a relevant clinician. If we find that we cannot provide the service needed online, you’ll be given an appointment with a specialist. Please note; In certain situations, TeleClinic cannot replace a face to face visit and physical examination, for example if areas of the body have to be felt or if the examination requires specialist equipment.

After registering and filling in the questionnaire, you will need to set up an appointment. Usually you can expect a consultation with your online doctor within two hours. We will endeavour to find a suitable time within the hours specified by you.

Our guidelines for the duration of a video consultation is 10 minutes, but rest assured the doctor always takes the necessary time to answer all of your questions.

Online video consultations are our preferred method at TeleClinic. Visual contact enables the attending clinician to ask patients about their symptoms while watching facial expressions and gestures.

For follow-up prescriptions or whenever the doctor is able to validate patient data, he or she may decide that a video call is not necessary. Please keep in mind that reimbursements by health insurance are usually contingent on a video consultation being part of the treatment.

No, in the case of an emergency, please call the emergency services immediately.

According to the law regulating health professions, and the professional code of conduct of the respective federal state, doctors are obliged to exercise their profession conscientiously, to comply with the trust placed in their profession, and to act with due medical diligence. The consulting doctor is responsible for deciding whether he or she is able to make a diagnosis remotely based on the information available.

Medical doctors are obliged to document treatments and keep files on their patients. This data has to be stored for ten years according to the federal data protection law. Afterwards it has to be disposed of by specialists. You have the right to obtain a copy of your data, and may ask to take a status report with you when leaving Germany.

If and when the doctor diagnoses an illness that makes sick leave necessary or advisable, he or she will issue the necessary certificate.

At TeleClinic you may obtain a prescription online, though not for all medications and not in every case. You can easily get a follow-up prescription if you need one for ongoing treatment. Prescriptions that can only be issued based on a physical examination and/or analyses are outside our scope, as are narcotics, sedatives, strong painkillers, performance-enhancing drugs or drugs that can be misused.

To make an appointment with a doctor in Germany, you can drop by in person or phone in advance. Some doctors will see emergencies even during regular consultation hours, called “Sprechzeiten”, but in this case you may have to wait a while – up to several hours. Since not all receptionists and support staff speak English, you should have some basic phrases ready to make yourself understood.

GPs do not usually perform any additional work at hospitals, but many specialists do. Therefore, it is advisable to find out about their consultation hours. Usually, doctors work mornings between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., some are also available on weekday afternoons. Most doctors do not work on Wednesday afternoons.

TeleClinic provides a digital alternative to conventional medical consultations. Doctors from numerous specialties, accredited in Germany, provide competent medical advice by video or over the phone 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. At TeleClinic, you can consult an English-speaking clinician without having to navigate any German language hurdles. Consult a trustworthy doctor face to face, without a no language barrier.