German prescribing and the Kassenrezept question

Started 17 December 2024 · 24 replies · 269 hearts · read 5.3k times

LinneaTurku, FI · 17 December 2024

1.6 years ago

Something I have been sitting with: German prescribing and the Kassenrezept question Not looking for advice so much as other people's experience.

Regional question, because I have read a great deal of advice that turns out to be true in one country only.

Supply where I am has been unpredictable and I would like to know what other people locally have been told.

The advice I have been given locally contradicts what I have read here, and I would like to know which is out of date.

Thank you for reading. Please do say where you are when you reply — it changes what the answer means.

HéloïseGeneva, CH

Somebody in this circle from a neighbouring country described a completely different process, and comparing the two was interesting and not useful.

NoorFacilitatorSingapore

Speaking as a facilitator: comparing systems is interesting and rarely actionable. The question asked was about one system and deserves an answer about that one.

OmarAmman, JO

You have said something a lot of us have not managed to. Thank you.

NellaUtrecht, NL

Omar, thank you for that. It gives me somewhere to start from.

Twenty-seven systems and none of them work the way the internet says. My country's arrangement is nothing like the one described in most of what I read.

12me too 4

IdaRotterdam, NL

I would say find somebody in your own country to ask, because the experience varies enormously and even neighbouring systems differ.

12me too 3

ClémenceNantes, FR

What Ida described happened to me too, in a slightly different order.

Cross-border care is a real option in my region and it took a specialist to explain the actual rules rather than the folklore.

GittaBonn, DE

Gently disagreeing with Clémence, or rather adding the other half of it.

Something practical: the paperwork for reimbursement had to be submitted in a particular order and I got it wrong the first time.

ZenBristol, UK

The pharmacy here is much more involved in the ongoing management than in some of the systems described in this circle.

LeniLeipzig, DE

Gitta said something I want to sit with for a second.

What I underestimated was how much easier things got once I had a named contact at the clinic rather than a general number.

NolwennRennes, FR

#10

The dietitian appointment was included here as standard, which I gather is not universal, and it was genuinely valuable.

PersisBristol, UK

#11

What helped was getting everything in writing in my own language, because the summaries I was given verbally lost detail.

MaudGhent, BE

#12

Leni — yes, and the bit that took me longest to accept was the next part.

My insurance required a specific form from the specialist and the whole thing hinged on one box that had not been ticked.

10me too 8

SaraOslo, NO

#13

Something worth knowing: supply here has been steady, and when it was not, the pharmacy told me two weeks ahead.

AbramAmsterdam, NL

#14

I moved country mid-way through and rebuilding everything took about five months, which I would plan for if I did it again.

XanBerlin, DE

#15

Adding a name to the list of people this helped.

10me too 3

PolaGdańsk, PL

#16

The language of the documentation was the practical barrier for me, and asking for a translated summary was straightforward once I asked.

PerrineStrasbourg, FR

#17

Xan has already said most of this and I want to add the one part that was different for me.

What I would flag is that a private route exists in most of these systems and the cost varies by a factor I would not have believed.

TacitaRome, IT

#18

My reviews are six-monthly with a specialist and that is the standard arrangement here rather than something I negotiated.

TheaBergen, NO

#19

Something I got right was keeping every document. The reimbursement claim eighteen months later needed one from the first month.

BramGhent, BE

#20

I found the system here slower to start and much better once started, which several people in this circle have described from other countries too.

EsmeAix-en-Provence, FR

#21

The travelling with it question has a specific answer for intra-EU journeys and it was worth getting that right before a trip.

MaritGroningen, NL

#22

Bram, thank you for that. It gives me somewhere to start from.

What surprised me was how much of the process was handled by my pharmacist rather than my doctor, which is not how it works elsewhere.

NoorFacilitatorSingapore

#23

I want to acknowledge how isolating it is to be the only person doing this for eighty miles. Several members here are in exactly that position.

LandoLeeds, UK

#24

Agreed, and I have nothing to add to it.

10me too 4