Praxis Dr. med. Christian Messer

We are a larger medical practice offering a flexible system of care. We aim to arrange appointments as promptly as possible while taking our patients’ everyday circumstances into consideration. Emergencies are given priority. This occasionally means that we may ask patients to reschedule an appointment. Wherever possible, we discuss this with the patient and reach a mutually agreeable solution, taking into account any other circumstances known to us. We never ask patients to change an appointment without good reason. Where doing so does not breach medical confidentiality, we will also explain the circumstances behind the request. Rescheduling appointments creates additional work for us too, and we prefer to avoid it whenever possible. In most cases, however, it enables us to help someone else. Many of our patients, despite the inconvenience involved, appreciate being able to contribute to helping another person in this way.

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Under their professional regulations, doctors are generally required to charge for the medical services they provide. For patients with public health insurance, services are billed to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians according to a standardised system of fees, although not all billed services are necessarily reimbursed in full. This does not affect the insured patient. Germany’s public health insurance system is excellent by international standards, and we never discuss remuneration with publicly insured patients. Patients with private health insurance receive an invoice in accordance with the official German medical fee schedule. Disputes concerning our invoices by private insurers are virtually unknown to us. We do not offer patients services that their insurance will not cover, provided that their insurance status has been stated correctly at the beginning of treatment.

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We make absolutely no distinction between patients with public and private health insurance, either when arranging appointments or in the treatment we provide. We regard the conditions of both forms of insurance as equally valid.

Although we provide comprehensive care within our specialist field, including somatic treatment, psychotherapy, pharmacological treatment and social medicine, we are ultimately a medical practice rather than simply a service provider that can accommodate every request on the basis of customer preference alone. At times, contractual, medical or therapeutic considerations may conflict with a patient’s wishes. In such situations, we always aim to find a workable compromise for everyone involved. In the great majority of cases this is possible, although unfortunately not always. Even then, apart from an extremely small number of clearly communicated exceptions, we remain open to resolving the situation and continuing treatment.