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Treatment in Germany
The question of where to be treated, it usually occurs, as a rule, when something has been hurting or already there is a preliminary diagnosis. Very few people in advance, that is, being absolutely healthy, make up a list of medical institutions where they will apply in the event of a disease. Consequently, the decision on where and how to be treated is accepted quickly. It does not always consider all possible options.
In this article, I will scatter the main issues and problems that arise from potential customers.
What country to choose?
World medicine offers to date such a huge range of services and cure capabilities, which is limited to the possibilities of only Russian medicine there is no need.
One of the leaders in the list of countries with the most developed and advanced medicine is Germany. Here are the features of this country:
- It is advantageous for the price of America and Switzerland;
- Is located in one climatic zone with Russia, so there is no need to pass acclimatization before carrying out complex operations, such as in countries with a hot climate;
- The educational system in German medical universities is so complicated that only round excellent students can get to these faculties. That is, initially in the profession people fall extraordinary and talented.
41 Medical University in the country is small compared to Russia, it makes it possible to receive an honorary and prestigious profession of the doctor. According to the German "SPIEGEL Online" per year, the country spends on the training of one student of the Medica 31.690 euros.
Life expectancy in Germany has grown over the past 38 years since 1980: from 69 years old in men and 76 years in women – up to 78 in men and 83 in women.
All this is possible due to the development of medicine, the system of preventive measures and the timely identification of dangerous predispositions.
Germany has long been a "medical memo" for patients from all over the world. Therefore, at the state level in the country there is a program for supporting foreign patients.
Check rates.
Submit the application and we will contact you and answer all your questions.
Important questions of treatment in Germany
When the patient decided to be treated in Germany, the following questions arise:
- How to quickly get into the clinic;
- How to choose from a set of clinics correct;
- What is the difference between urban clinics from university, and university from private;
- What you need to know about the organizers' firms;
- how to understand the pricing system in clinics;
- whether the translator is needed if yes – then what they differ in;
- What additional services are provided in Germany.
I will try to answer all these questions in order.
Urban, University and Private Clinics
So clinic. In Germany, there are university clinics, city clinics and private clinics. There are also clinics belonging to different religious orders, but these, as a rule, are either city or private clinics.
On the one hand, it would seem that University clinics should be better than city ones. But there are subtleties here.
Doctors in university clinics have the same qualifications as doctors in city clinics, but in parallel with the treatment of patients, they take part in medical research.
University clinics tend to offer the latest treatments and are better equipped, but they are slightly more expensive than city clinics – on average, by 15-20%.
In relation to patients and the quality of their service, city and university clinics do not differ in any way, since, if necessary, a concilium decision is made.
Firstly, if the patient needs to go through, for example, a check-up or get the opinion of one narrow specialist, the University Hospital is a poor choice. Here the patient will lose a lot of time on general queues and will not receive an individual approach. In these cases, it is better to contact a private clinic or a private diagnostician.
Secondly, city clinics often employ specialists and doctors from University clinics who have some unique skills or techniques. Then the patient needs to go to the city clinic. For example, many German athletes are operated on by the head of a simple city clinic, not even a professor.
Private clinics are a more complex issue. Definitely, here you will receive:
- more individual approach;
- reduced waiting time;
- more comfortable rooms.
But here the most important question is the choice of a doctor. There are clinics that rely on a team of doctors and professors, and there are clinics that rely on beauty and comfort in the medical institution itself.
The choice of a clinic and a competent doctor, in my opinion, cannot be done without knowing German – only on the basis of crumbs of information on commercial Russian-language sites.
How to choose a doctor?
There are many criteria for choosing doctors:
- top lists of leading doctors in each separate area;
- feedback from colleagues and patients;
- objective personal statistics of each individual specialist.
Among other things, this is insider information that cannot be found on the Internet.
This is where an intermediary company can help. Although this is an incorrect name for our activities: the organizing company should not be an intermediary and receive commercial benefits from the fact that the client applied to the clinic.
What you need to know about organizing companies
The organizing firm must NEVER charge a client for MEDICAL services. The patient himself pays for medical services in the accounting department of the clinic. Run from businesses that require you to pay upfront or say you can't make an appointment without them.
The organizing company can charge the client only for:
- организацию лечения: как правило, это фиксированная сумма;
- за услуги переводчика – устные и письменные;
- accompaniment;
- послеоперационную коммуникацию;
- ведение клиента: хранение медицинской документации, передача их от врача к врачу;
- транспортные услуги – при необходимости.
Оплата лечения должна происходить напрямую в клинике.
Если же искать контакты с клиниками через сайты-агрегаторы, пациент может попасть только в клиники, платящие "откат" сервису. И если в Израиле это так или иначе закалькулировано в каждом лечебном учреждении, то в Германии только коммерческие клиники могут себе это позволить. Значит, пациент лишает себя возможности попасть к врачу из ТОП-листа в Университетской клинике, городской или государственной.
Фирма-организатор не должна привязывать свои цены к стоимости лечения в клинике и брать какой-то процент от бюджета лечения, потому что тогда она будет заинтересована в увеличении этого бюджета.
Если фирма утверждает, что берет минимальную почасовую оплату, то где-то она увеличивает стоимость в клинике в свою пользу.
Фирма-организатор не может быть дешевой: в Германии очень высокие налоги и заработная плата.
Если фирма-организатор или отдельно взятый частный предприниматель берет цену ниже рыночной, это означает, что они занимаются этим на любительском уровне.
Возможно, будет страдать качество перевода, которое будет совершаться на приеме и которое пациент не сможет оценить в силу незнания немецкого языка. А ведь на приеме зачастую стоит вопрос о жизни и смерти, или о стратегии лечения! И пациент вместе с врачом должен взвешивать все плюсы и минусы предложенных вариантов. Представьте себе, что в этот момент переводчик не знает правильного перевода слов? Вот отсюда и появляются отрицательные отзывы клиентов, недовольных лечением в Германии.
Более того, дешевый организатор будет искать способ заработать дополнительно, а тут, как вы понимаете, если вы не владеете языком, способов обмана существует миллион. Например, это увеличение количества часов или дней работы.
В то же время дорогая и хорошая фирма-организатор не только предоставит переводчика со специальным образованием, но и поможет разобраться в счетах клиники и на многом поможет сэкономить.
Например я, как финансист, досконально разобралась в системе ценообразования, и помогаю клиентам экономить до 30% от бюджета, не теряя при этом в качестве медицинского обслуживания.
А если обратиться через международный отдел клиники?
В составе Международных отделов нередко бывают русскоязычные сотрудники (на зарплате), но в их обязанность не входит сопровождать пациентов. Они могут предлагать своих знакомых, но вы должны знать, что это – нелегально, и клиники им это запрещают. Как правило, это – дешёвые переводчики, которые кроме как выполнять перевод при врачебном обходе, сильно и помочь-то не могут.For those who are looking for extremely cheap, this may be a normal solution to the issue. But for those who are looking for a normal service – by no means.
An example for clarity:
My old friend (from regular customers) asked me to help his mother. She has an incomprehensible situation: she seems to be in the clinic, but she is getting worse and worse. Since he was treated at my university clinic, I submitted his application to the international department (with translations of the epicrisis – everything is as it should be, there is no point in sending documents in Russian there). I was told that they took it into consideration. A few more days later, a friend is already urgently asking for help, since mom is not at all well. I call up a professor I know, we allocate a room in his department (private clinic) and my mother arrives. We conduct an inspection, insist on stationary placement. In the evening, my mother was in intensive care, in a coma, since they quickly figured out what was wrong. A week later, my mother, having recovered greatly in a separate room, is practically preparing for discharge. Fully having a treatment plan. And here they call me from the International Department of the University Hospital and they say that we can make an advance payment – they are ready to accept my mother. Only by this time she would have died at home. Here is the difference – act directly or through the organizing company.
The International departments of large clinics have a very developed bureaucracy, so they can help everyone, but only on a general basis.
If you are interested:
- quality service;
- fast organization;
- comfortable conditions.
it is better to contact experienced organizers.
How to save on treatment in Germany?
You can save money on treatment in Germany. To do this, you can use the “second opinion” service, as well as take annual check-ups in German clinics.
Second opinion
As soon as a question arises about treatment in Germany or somewhere else abroad, it is necessary, at a minimum, to use the “second opinion” service. It can save a life.
The logic of the question is too simple: the service itself is never expensive, and if you heard everything exactly as the local doctors told, the choice is yours. And if you saw a significant difference in the approach, methodology, treatment regimen, then the choice is even easier.
Check-up
Check-up is for those who take care of their health on a regular basis, and do not throw themselves when the rooster has pecked.
In German there is such a word "Zufallbefund". A rough translation is “accidentally found diagnosis”. This is when, during standard diagnostics, they find a really “big problem” in the initial stage. Believe me, from practice – for 10 check-ups there will definitely be 1-2 such patients, and this can save their lives.
Pricing system in clinics
Briefly, I can say that the pricing system in the clinic directly depends not only on the number of procedures and days of stay, but also on the severity index of the disease. The latter is assigned to the patient upon admission.
It happens that the clinic asks for more money than is subsequently spent.In this case, they themselves transfer the unspent amount to the client's card. It is impossible to influence this issue before the end of treatment. This is another reason why it is not worth sending funds to the organizer's account.
My experience in the field of German medicine
Ten years of work have allowed me to gather invaluable experience that I use to help my clients.
Let's start with choosing a doctor. Here, in addition to objective top lists and ratings of clinics, I focus on my own statistics. It came to me in 10 years of working with various specialists in critical situations.
I know which doctor will leave the premiere at the opera to consult a patient online for 6 thousand kilometers, and which one will not cancel even a lunch visit to the hairdresser. I attended thousands of conversations between doctors and patients and saw that a good doctor treats not only the body, but also the soul, regardless of the watch and wallet.
Knowing what families of patients who accompany patients face, our firm has a specialist emologist on staff. It helps to cope with negative emotions and survive a difficult moment in life without loss to health and psyche.
It is also important how we organize non-medical issues, such as: