Selected Service: Rescue
The rescue service is a public task of health care and hazard prevention.
The rescue service has the task of providing the population with medical services in line with demand and throughout the country and includes emergency rescue and (qualified) patient transport both on the ground and in the air.
Emergency rescue includes the performance of life-saving measures or measures to prevent serious damage to the health of emergency patients at the scene of an accident. The goal is to make the patient fit for transport and to transport him or her under professional care in rescue vehicles equipped for this purpose to a treatment facility suitable for further care.
The(qualified) patient transport includes the transport of other sick, injured or needy persons who, according to medical assessment, require professional medical care or a specially equipped rescue vehicle during transport or who are expected to do so due to their condition.
Air rescue includes the rescue service with air vehicles (rescue transport helicopter - RTH and intensive care transport helicopter - ITH). It complements/supports the ground-based rescue service and includes:
primary air rescue (emergency or initial care at the scene, making the emergency patient fit for transport and transport to the nearest suitable hospital),
secondary rescue (transport of medically treated patients from a hospital to a hospital more suitable for further treatment).
A (simple) ambulance ride is any other ride of a sick person, e.g. by cab.
It is not part of the rescue service!
Emergency transports are to be requested from the control center of the district or independent city under the uniform emergency number 112. Ambulance transports in urgent cases are also requested from the rescue control center.
For other, non-urgent ambulance transports or ambulance rides, please contact your doctor. Your doctor will issue a prescription for you, regardless of the means of transport you choose.
Please contact your doctor to obtain a prescription for patient transport for patient journeys, patient transports or rescue journeys. He/she will issue a prescription for you in accordance with the currently valid Patient Transport Guideline of the Joint Federal Committee. This guideline in accordance with § 92 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 12 SGB V regulates the prescription of patient journeys, patient transports and rescue journeys in accordance with § 73 Paragraph 2 Sentence 1 Number 7 SGB V.
For a patient trip or a patient transport for outpatient treatment , the approval of your health insurance fund is also required. Prescriptions requiring approval must be submitted to the health insurance company in good time. The duration and scope (e.g. means of transport, outward and return journey) of the authorization are determined by the health insurance fund.
The following exceptions apply:
Journeys to pre- or post-inpatient treatment in accordance with § 115a SGB V or to outpatient surgery in accordance with § 115b SGB V are exempt from the authorization requirement. In addition, patient transports to inpatient services do not require approval by the health insurance fund.
For the following patient journeys, approval is deemed to have been granted in accordance with Section 60 (1) Sentence 5 of the German Social Code, Book V, so that no express approval by the health insurance fund is required:
Sick trips for outpatient treatment for insured persons who present a severely disabled person's ID card with the mark "aG", "Bl" or "H" or a notice of classification in accordance with SGB XI in care level 3, 4 or 5 at the time of the prescription and who, if classified in care level 3, require transportation due to permanent impairment of their mobility (also fulfilled for insured persons who were classified in care level 2 until December 31, 2016 and have been classified at least in care level 3 since January 1, 2017).
Spatially limited and time-limited special arrangements in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic:
In light of the challenges of managing the epidemic outbreak due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Federal Joint Committee may, by separate resolution based on Section 9(2a) of its Rules of Procedure, authorize the following spatially limited and time-limited exceptions to the provisions of the Patient Transport Guidelines if, depending on the nature of the outbreak, they are necessary and required to contain and manage infections or to protect health care facilities from congestion:
1. prior authorization by the Health Plan is not required for ambulance transports for urgent outpatient treatment that cannot be postponed for those who are documented to have COVID-19 or for Insureds who are quarantined under an administrative order.
2. prescriptions for ambulance transport and ambulance rides may also be issued after a medical history has been taken by telephone and transmitted by the contracting physician by mail to an insured known in the physician's office, provided that the prescribing contracting physician has satisfied himself or herself of the insured's condition by means of a thorough telephone interview.
These exceptions apply if the prescription was issued by a panel physician based in one of the areas defined by a separate exceptional decision of the Joint Federal Committee or if the insured's place of residence is located within one of these areas. If and as long as the German Bundestag has determined an epidemic situation of national scope in accordance with Section 5 (1) of the Infection Protection Act, the exemption regulation under 1. applies nationwide.
In cases of doubt, it is recommended that you clarify with your health insurance fund whether one of the exceptions applies to your specific case.
You need a doctor's prescription for patient transport in order to bill the statutory health insurance funds. Your doctor will issue a corresponding prescription for ambulance rides, patient transports or rescue rides, regardless of the means of transport to be chosen.
The prescription should be issued before the transport. Only in exceptional cases, especially in emergencies, transportation can be prescribed subsequently. An emergency exists when the patient's life is in danger or serious damage to health is to be feared if the necessary medical care is not provided immediately. In the case of an emergency rescue, the prescription can also be issued by the emergency physician or replaced by a transport confirmation from the hospital.
In the case of persons with statutory health insurance, the health insurance fund assumes the costs of care provided by emergency physicians, ambulance travel to the hospital and ambulance transport necessary for compelling medical reasons in accordance with the provisions of the Fifth Book of the German Social Code (SGB V) (except for the co-payment in accordance with § 61 SGB V amounting to a maximum of 10.00 euros, but within the scope of your burden limit in accordance with § 62 SGB V).
The co-payment according to § 61 sentence 1 SGB V is in principle ten of one hundred of the costs per trip - at least, however, 5 euros and at most 10 euros, however, in each case not more than the costs of the trip. Only insured persons whose co-payments have exceeded the burden limit according to § 62 SGB V are exempt upon presentation of a corresponding certificate.
The health insurance fund will pay the travel costs for an ambulance trip, for a patient transport or a patient trip that are necessary in connection with a service provided by the health insurance fund for compelling medical reasons, in the case of
Services that are provided on an inpatient basis,
rescue trips to the hospital even without inpatient treatment,
ambulance journeys with specialist care necessary for medical reasons or in an ambulance,
journeys to an outpatient treatment as well as journeys to a pre- or post-inpatient treatment or an outpatient operation in the hospital, if thereby an inpatient or partial inpatient hospital treatment, which is necessary in itself, is avoided or shortened.
In case of doubt, you will have to pay for transport services to outpatient treatment that you arrange without consulting your health insurance fund. Therefore, please clarify in advance with your health insurance company whether and to what extent they will cover the costs. If you are currently receiving benefits from a social welfare agency, it is also worth inquiring there.
Federal Ministry of Health - Travel expenses
Thuringia Rescue Services Act (ThürRettG)
§§ Sections 60, 61, 62, 133 of the Fifth Book of the German Social Code (SGB) - Statutory Health Insurance
Thuringian Ministry of the Interior and Local Affairs