Online doctor by video: consultation with doctors licensed in Germany

An online doctor is a licensed physician who treats patients in a video consultation. The professional code permits exclusive remote treatment in individual cases if it is medically justifiable and the patient has been informed about its particular features (section 7 (4) of the model professional code, Musterberufsordnung).

At OpenClinic24 you are treated by doctors with a German licence (Approbation), for example Adi Zoabi MD, a licensed physician. Every treatment starts with a structured questionnaire and leads into a personal video call. There is no diagnosis by questionnaire alone.

OpenClinic24 is a private medical platform. Billing follows the German medical fee schedule (Gebührenordnung für Ärzte, GOÄ). Sick notes, prescriptions or referrals are only issued if the doctor considers them indicated in the individual case.

You start with “Start video consultation” and choose your concern: sick note, medication or advice. The questionnaire takes about three minutes and records symptoms, previous illnesses, medication and allergies. Then you create your patient account and reserve €10.72.

If a doctor is online, the consultation starts straight away. Otherwise you join the queue and receive the link by SMS and e-mail as soon as the consultation opens. The call usually takes five to fifteen minutes.

At the end the invoice and all issued documents are available in your patient account. You can download or print them there.

You can submit requests around the clock, including at weekends and on public holidays. The video consultation takes place as soon as a doctor is online. Whether someone is online right now is shown in the availability notice on this page and in your patient account.

We do not guarantee a consultation at a specific time or within a fixed period. If nobody is online, your request stays in the queue and you are notified by SMS and e-mail. You can withdraw the request at any time; you are only charged after an actual consultation.

For urgent complaints outside practice hours that are not emergencies, the out-of-hours medical service is available on 116 117. In an emergency call 112.

You need a smartphone, tablet or computer with camera, microphone and a stable internet connection, plus an up-to-date browser. No app is required. Before the consultation you can test camera and microphone in the browser.

The video consultation runs encrypted via LiveKit; your health data are stored in the European Union and processed under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Doctors are bound by medical confidentiality. You are informed about remote treatment in plain language before the consultation, as section 630e of the German Civil Code (BGB) requires.

Tips for a good call: a quiet room, light from the front, ID at hand, good lighting of the affected area for skin complaints, and the medicine packs or your last doctor’s letter for long-term medication.

Website, questionnaire, patient account and documents are available in German, English, Turkish and Arabic. You can see which languages the doctor on duty speaks in the availability notice before the consultation.

German terms such as certificate of incapacity (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung, AU), private prescription (Privatrezept), GOÄ, PKV and Beihilfe are explained in every language version. So people who are new to Germany also understand what they receive and how to use it.

In March 2026 the consumer advice centre of North Rhine-Westphalia (Verbraucherzentrale NRW) found that some online providers prescribed without identity checks and without a conversation. At OpenClinic24 four steps apply before every document:

• Identity: ID check before the consultation.
• Questionnaire: structured recording of symptoms, previous illnesses, medication and allergies.
• Video call: a personal conversation with follow-up questions and, if needed, a visual check via the camera.

Medical decision: sick note or prescription only if medically indicated and justifiable by video; a refusal is possible and is explained.

The video consultation complements in-person care, it does not replace it. The table helps you choose the right route.

You reserve €10.72 (GOÄ no. 1, factor 2.3). You are charged as soon as the consultation has started based on the actual call; with a visual examination per GOÄ no. 5 it is €21.44. The invoice is available as a PDF in your account. No membership, no subscription. In the evening (8–10 pm and 6–8 am), at night (10 pm–6 am) and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays the statutory GOÄ surcharge is added at the single rate (€10.49, €18.65 or €12.82); the start of the consultation counts and you see the amount before reserving.

• Statutory insurance (GKV): you pay yourself; insurers usually do not reimburse a private medical service.
• Private insurance (PKV): submit the GOÄ invoice as usual; reimbursement depends on your tariff.
• Civil-service aid (Beihilfe): submit the invoice to your Beihilfe office.

You pay for a prescribed medication at the pharmacy. If nothing is issued, you only pay for the medical consultation.

Not possible by video: examinations that require palpation, auscultation or lab tests, prescriptions for controlled substances, first prescriptions requiring an examination, sick notes beyond three days, backdating beyond three days, certificates for children and the treatment of emergencies. In these cases the doctor recommends the right route.

Call 112 immediately for chest pain, shortness of breath, paralysis, speech disorders, impaired consciousness, heavy bleeding or suicidal thoughts. Outside practice hours the out-of-hours medical service helps on 116 117.

• Section 7 (4) of the model professional code (Musterberufsordnung) of the German Medical Association: exclusive remote treatment in individual cases if medically justifiable and the patient has been informed.
• Section 9 of the Health Advertising Act (Heilmittelwerbegesetz, HWG): advertising remote treatment only where recognised professional standards do not require personal contact. That is why we describe for each concern what is possible by video and what is not.
• Section 630e German Civil Code (BGB): information in plain language before treatment, also for remote treatment.
• G-BA incapacity directive (AU-Richtlinie): sick note by video for patients not known to the practice up to three calendar days.
• Medical fee schedule (Gebührenordnung für Ärzte, GOÄ): basis of every invoice; reservation under no. 1 with factor 2.3.
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): processing of health data only with consent and purpose limitation, storage in the EU.