Patient rights

As a patient, you have rights that you should be aware of. Here we provide information on topics such as choosing a doctor or hospital, the duty to provide information, your right to a second opinion, and what you can do if you believe you have been treated incorrectly.

In the outpatient sector, that is, in doctor’s practices, you have the right to choose your doctor freely. You can go to the doctor you have selected. Patients, however, should not change their chosen doctor within a quarter without an important reason. For example, participation in the GP-centered care model (Hausarztmodell) involves committing to a specific general practitioner, voluntarily limiting your freedom of choice.

As soon as you enter a doctor’s practice and receive treatment, a treatment contract is established between you and your doctor. The treatment must meet general professional standards. However, this does not guarantee a specific treatment or healing outcome.

Your treating doctor is obliged to inform you of all circumstances essential for giving consent. This includes the following points regarding diagnosis and therapy:

Additionally, your doctor should inform you of alternative treatment options and, where appropriate, provide information on data protection.

Information must be provided in a timely manner so that you can make well-considered decisions about treatment or therapy. The timing depends on the type and urgency of the procedure. For example, for an infusion, it is sufficient if the information is provided immediately beforehand.

You must be given enough time to ask all questions, reconsider your decision, and obtain further information if needed. Patient information can be waived only under special circumstances, particularly if the procedure cannot be delayed. In principle, your doctor is released from the duty to inform only if you explicitly waive this right (§630 BGB).

As a patient, you have the right to access your patient record, provided there are no therapeutic reasons or other third-party rights that prevent access. If access is denied, this must be justified. If you request an electronic copy of your patient record, you must cover the costs yourself.

In the event of the patient’s death, their relatives or heirs generally also have the right to access the patient record, provided this does not conflict with the actual or presumed wishes of the patient (§630g BGB).

Doctors and hospitals generally bill all medically prescribed and initiated services directly via your SBK healthcare card. If you want to know which services were billed, you can request a patient receipt from your doctor’s practice, your treating hospital, or from us. The receipt can be viewed directly in Meine SBK or sent to you by post. Please note: because this involves highly personal and sensitive data, you will only see it after activating all our online services.

Before starting a treatment that your doctor cannot bill through the SBK healthcare card, they must inform you of the expected costs. It is not sufficient to provide this information verbally; the doctor must give it to you in written form for your acknowledgment and consent.

Individual health services (IGeL) are medical services that are generally not covered by statutory health insurance. This is because there is insufficient scientific evidence for their benefit, or they are not medically necessary. The patient must cover the costs of individual health services themselves. More information on IGeL can be found on the page Individual health services.

If your doctor recommends a treatment and you are unsure whether it is right for you, you have the right to a second opinion. We support you in making your decision: advice from specialists is available via the SBK health hotline. For a second opinion, you can use our dedicated second opinion service.

If you believe that an error occurred during your medical treatment or therapy, we support you with our treatment error service. We provide advice on treatment errors and, if necessary, inform you about all the steps required to assert your claims for compensation or damages.

If you submit a benefit application, health insurance companies have three weeks to decide. Under certain circumstances, the deadline can be extended, for example if the medical service is involved in the assessment. If you obtain the service yourself after the deadline has passed because you have not received a final decision, the health insurance company is obliged to reimburse you for the costs incurred.