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International Patients
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Service &… Frequently Asked…

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

International Patients

In order to submit a treatment inquiry, we kindly ask you to use our inquiry form. On the basis of the information received our physicians will be able to provide you with a good-quality treatment offer. Since our internal processes require the form we are unable to process inquiries made by telephone or email. Please note that our physicians additionally need some medical documents.

Please find the required documents for your treatment inquiry here. Please note that the required documents may vary depending on your disease.

You will find notes on the required documents here. Medical documents in common formats (e.g. pdf, jpeg, word) can be attached to the form (in the upload area); for DICOM image data, for example MRI or CT images, we have a DICOM upload portal (Telemedicine Portal) available – you can upload image data either immediately after sending the form or later using the upload-link we will provide to your e-mail address. When you use these upload options we will have immediate access to your data and can process your inquiry as fast as possible (no mailing delays).

Alternatively, you can send a CD/DVD (images in DICOM format) by mail to: 

Heidelberg University Hospital
Medical International Office
Im Neuenheimer Feld 400
69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Please note that in case of postal delivery the processing of your treatment request will be will be delayed.

Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee that your documents will be returned to you and therefore ask you to provide us with copies only and not original documents.

You can upload your DICOM files via our telemedicine portal. More information.

First, please check whether you have completed all mandatory fields on the form and whether your entries are in line with the formatting requirements. If it is not possible to send attached documents, please check first whether your documents are too large and reduce their size if possible. If need be, you may send the form without documents and then send the documents by email to the Medical International Office. 

Should sending still not be possible, you may print out the form and send it as a scan by email, by fax or by mail to the Medical International Office. 

From the date on which the Medical International Office receives all required information and documents, it will take approx. one week to process your treatment inquiry. Upon viewing the medical documents by the competent medical department, you will receive a tentative therapy offer including a cost estimate. In some cases, we are unable to provide you with a treatment offer, for instance if the required department has no capacities or if the physicians do not consider a therapy in Heidelberg to be reasonable.

Please contact your responsible case manager at the Medical International Office and always have your Medical International Office case number available and/or quote it in your email. This ensures that we will be able to help you as quickly as possible. As a matter of principle, it is better to address any questions by quoting your IO case number to the Medical International Office in writing because the responsible Case Managers are often unable to provide you with any expedient information without consulting the respective medical department, accounting department and/or your file.

First, please check whether you have submitted your treatment inquiry using the form. If so, you should have received an email with the corresponding five-digit Medical International Office Number. Should you not have received such an email, please send us – if available – a copy of the completed form by .

Should you not have completed the form, please send us the form first; then you will receive an Medical International Office case number together with our acknowledgment of receipt.
 

In the case of medical emergency requiring immediate hospital treatment, please visit the hospital closest to your home first. Following an examination by a physician and preparation of a medical report, you may send it to us; we will forward all inquiries promptly, and our physicians will decide upon the urgency of a treatment and appointment.

The Medical International Office will make the first appointments for all medical departments of Heidelberg University Hospital for you. During ongoing treatment, please talk to your contact in the department about any appointments directly, as far as they are regarding the treatment performed. Should you wish any further treatments or consultations with other departments, please contact the .

As soon as your payment is credited to the Heidelberg University Hospital account, we will communicate your appointment to you. As a matter of principle, you will be offered the soonest possible appointment or your preferred date, if possible. The soonest available appointment is usually about 1 - 8 weeks following payment receipt; in rare cases, a time period of more than 8 weeks may elapse between payment receipt and the soonest available appointment.

You will find information and the key steps here

Heidelberg University Hospital accepts treatment guarantees from some Arab embassies (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman) as well as from some insurance companies (e.g. Allianz Worldwide Care, AXA PPP International, Cigna Global Health Benefits, EU-SVA/EHIC/S2) without expecting any prepayment. In these cases, the treatment guarantee by the respective funding agency is required to be submitted to the Medical International Office upon scheduling the appointment and/or at an early stage prior to the beginning of the treatment.

Treatment guarantees by other funding agencies may not be accepted; it is possible in some cases, however, that patients submit the invoice to their insurance retroactively, requesting reimbursement. Please contact your funding agency at an early stage in any case.

The treatment guarantee submitted to us is respectively limited to a time period and to a specific treatment. Should the submitted treatment guarantee not cover

  • the treatment period or
  • the planned treatment which is not associated with the primary treatment or
  • the costs for the travelling companion

you will be requested to prepay the planned extension of the treatment / admission of a travelling companion or to submit an extended treatment guarantee; please understand that the costs must be guaranteed in good time prior to your appointment.

As soon as the embassy / insurance carrier submits a valid treatment guarantee to the Medical International Office, we will review whether we will be able to refund your prepayment immediately.

For some countries, international outgoing financial transactions are not possible (e.g. due to political situation). For this reason, some patients transfer the requested prepayments though third party accounts. In this case, please note that this is on personal own risk and a proof of the ownership (e.g. receipt) should be kept.

As a rule, refunds can only be transferred to the account the payment was made. A refund to a different account (e.g. your own / consulate) is only possible from our side after receipt of a proper proof of ownership of the transferred money (e.g. receipt, transfer confirmation, written declaration/power of attorney from the third party etc.).

We will be happy to support you in obtaining a visa. The requirements are that the costs have been guaranteed (cost estimate was paid or treatment guarantee was submitted by an accepted funding agency) and the appointment has been confirmed by the patient.

You can find further information here.

No, the hospital does not pay commission fees. Interpreters / facilitators may charge patients for additional facilitator services (for example translation of medical documents from the patient’s home country). If you are not sure whether rates are reasonable, feel free to contact the Medical International Office.

You can find assistance in finding and reserving accommodation with our partner Heidelberg Marketing

Should patients not be proficient in the German or English language, it is important that an interpreter certified by Heidelberg University Hospital is hired in time by the patient for any required doctor’s consultations before treatment begins. Patients looking to hire a certified interpreter or with questions, e.g. about the standard rates for interpreters / other assistance services, may contact the Medical International Office. Please find further information here.

Please rest assured that Heidelberg University Hospital greatly values the protection of your personal and medical data; our employees are obliged to adhere to strict data protection regulations.

For the safety of our patients, it is mandatory that a screening for the detection of multi-resistant pathogens be performed prior to hospitalization. In order to perform this required test you will have an appointment some days prior to your hospitalization. In case patients must be hospitalized with a positive test, which is difficult to treat, protective measures must be observed.

Should your state of health require special nutrition or should you have individual wishes or habits, we will be happy to allow for these. Please tell the nursing staff about your requests prior to the beginning of your treatment.

Upon completion of the treatment, the treating physician will prepare a detailed medical report in English, if desired. You will usually receive a preliminary letter immediately after treatment; the preparation of the finalized letter, which will also be authorized by the respective Medical Director, is usually issued within four weeks upon completion of the treatment. This letter will include information on the diagnoses, the treatment performed as well as recommendations for further medical care.

Whenever possible, we will perform treatments on an outpatient basis. This means that you will only be hospitalized if it is medically required and may otherwise stay at a hotel / apartment and come to the hospital for your respective appointments. This reduces the cost of treatment, and any hospital stays are limited to a minimum.

You will find our patient rooms – most of which are doubles – bright, comfortable, and well equipped. Each room on the regular wards has a bathroom. Some rooms have a terrace or balcony. Our rooms are equipped with the following for your communication and entertainment needs:

  • Television (including Arabic and English-language channels)
  • Telephone (at reasonable rates)
  • Internet (free of charge)

For more information, check with the nursing staff or at the admissions office (near the entrance). We make every effort to accommodate special requests concerning your room. Heidelberg University Hospital is very much in demand. For this reason, we ask you to understand that we are not always able to satisfy requests for a single room or accommodations for a guest; our primary concern and obligation are ensuring that we do not have to turn away patients due to bed shortages.

Visa extensions are issued by the locally competent foreigners’ registration office in Heidelberg. Your Case Manager at the Medical International Office will be happy to issue a new confirmation for a visa extension if further treatment is required and the expected treatment costs have been guaranteed. Patients or relatives should contact their Case Manager some time before the visa expires since the preparation of the confirmation document may take some days.

Please inform our staff, e.g. via your relatives or press the call button; the nursing staff will then come to you immediately.

Central telephone line at Heidelberg University Hospital: +49 (0) 6221 56-0

Heidelberg University Hospital offers consultation appointments and a variety of treatment options. A cost estimate can only be provided once the medical reports have been reviewed and a decision has been made by the specialists. You will be contacted by your case manager regarding the status of your inquiry and cost estimate.

 

General Hospital Services (standard benefits) of an in-patient treatment case are billed by means of the so-called Diagnosis Related Groups System (DRG-System), which is the legal German hospital billing system. This system is mainly based on the medical documentation of main-diagnosis and additional diagnoses as well as procedures pertaining to the complete stay in hospital. Additional fees are calculated on the basis of procedures as well. The assignment to a DRG is based on various parameters. The most important here are the main diagnosis and any procedures performed (surgery, intensive diagnostic or therapeutic services, respiration hours). Any existing secondary diagnoses could also influence the severity classification.

Other surcharges (e.g. for dialysis, application of special drugs, application of blood-products, anticoagulation, legal surcharges etc.) are charged as well and depend for example on the applicated dose(s) during the in-patient stay.

The DRG which will finally be billed for one in-patient stay can not be predicted, because all diagnoses made until the end of the stay, and all diagnostic or therapeutic services in the course of treatment are essential.

The costs for nursing staff are billed as additional daily rates. These separated costs appear on the invoice as position "costs for nurses care".

In addition to the standard benefits, chosen elective services, e.g. "treatment by physician of choice" (private patient treatment) will be invoiced additionally and separately by the involved medical departments.

Option 1: Money Transfer

A money transfer can be made with your bank in person or online. Please contact your bank to schedule the payment. The University of Heidelberg Hospital: Medical International Office bank details are located in the lower right corner of your cost estimate.

Option 2: Pay with cash

A cash payment can be made prior to the appointment at the cashier’s office located in the Kopfklinik, ground floor near the entrance (close to the cafeteria). Please be prepared to present your cost estimate issued by Medical International Office.

opening hours:

  • Monday: 8:00 am - 12:00 am, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Tuesday: closed
  • Wednesday: 8:00 am - 11:15 am
  • Thursday: 8:00 am - 12:00 am, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
  • Friday: 8:00 am - 1:00 pm
  • Saturday, Sunday and on national holidays (listed on our contact information page): closed

Option 3: Credit Card Payment

We accept credit card payments. The payment can either be made online or in our office with a card reader. Our office hours our listed on our Contact Information page.

International bank transfers may take approximately 10 banking days from the day our bank receives the transfer order.

Usually, you should be able to receive the cost estimate on the next business day.

If an interpreter fluent in your language is not listed, then please contact a translation office which can be searched for online.  

A certified interpreter is recommended. If your partner, friend, and/or family member speaks fluent German and/or English and you are confident in his/her ability to interpret medical information, then you can decide if you would like him/her to act as your interpreter. However, be aware that you are taking a risk that not all medical information may be interpreted correctly. For this reason, a certified interpreter is recommended. 

 

  • Before the admission process for certification can take place, the applicant must provide proof of assistance with patient care at the hospital. This is usually provided by having written confirmation from the patient and the care unit.
  • A successful passing of a one-time oral language test is required. For Interpreters who have completed an education in language, can present their certificate of degree. For these interpreters, a language test is not required.
  • Attend at least two medical short courses per year (excluding physicians/dentists/pharmacists/ and medical students with at least a completed Physikum and additional clinical semester).
  • Attend a short training on legal requirements and hospital procedures.   
  • A written declaration by the interpreter that he / she adheres to the university hospital's house rules, the instructions of the medical staff, the applicable data protection regulations and the requirements for implementing the case administration of the International Office.
  • Annual presentation of price and service overview of all non-medical services that are provided and billed for self-paying patients from abroad.

If participation is successful, then the interpreter will receive an identification card active for two years, which must be carried by the interpreters. Further information.

Treatment inquiry & Appointment
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