What does a private house-call doctor cost in Berlin?

How a house-call bill is built up

A private house call in Berlin is not billed at a flat rate. It follows the GOÄ, the federal fee schedule for physicians — a legal ordinance that assigns every individual medical service a tariff code and a euro amount. A typical house-call bill is composed of several line items: the visit itself (code 50 or 51), the consultation (code 3), the physical examination (code 5, 7 or 8) and, depending on the situation, additional services such as ECG, injection, infusion, rapid test, wound care or prescription. A separate travel fee applies based on kilometres or zones. The final amount is the sum of all line items.

Realistically the price sits between around 180 euros for a brief daytime visit with simple advice and around 450 euros for a complex evening or weekend visit including several investigations and a small on-site intervention. Most patients end up between 220 and 350 euros. The single biggest lever is the so-called GOÄ multiplier: the GOÄ allows the base amount to be multiplied by a factor — usually 1.8 to 2.3, and up to 3.5 in cases of above-average difficulty or time required. Whichever factor is applied must be justified in writing on the bill.

In other words: you pay for the medical service, not for an Uber-style ride. Unlike a taxi there is therefore no flat-rate tariff — but also no hidden surcharges, no tips, no booking fee. The bill arrives a few days later by mail or email from our private medical billing service and is fully itemised under GOÄ. Private and government-employee (Beihilfe) patients submit the bill to their insurer and receive the contractually agreed share — usually 100 percent on a full private policy, partial under Beihilfe depending on the tariff.

Example: hotel visit on a Saturday evening

A hotel guest in Berlin-Mitte calls around 9 pm on a Saturday with fever, sore throat and difficulty swallowing. The doctor arrives within roughly 70 minutes, examines throat and lymph nodes, runs a streptococcal rapid test, makes the diagnosis, prescribes antibiotics and symptom relief and issues a certificate for travel insurance. The bill itemises: out-of-hours visit (code 51), detailed consultation (code 3), examination (code 7), strep rapid test, travel fee — total in this realistic example around 320 euros including the weekend surcharge. A standard full private policy reimburses 100 percent.

What influences the final amount

• Time of day: visits between 8 pm and 8 am as well as on weekends and public holidays are billed at a higher tariff — the GOÄ explicitly allows this surcharge.
• Complexity: a brief consultation for a cold is cheaper than an acute work-up with ECG, multi-system examination and detailed counselling.
• GOÄ multiplier: factor 1.8 is the standard case, 2.3 the upper standard range, up to 3.5 for justified extra effort (complex multimorbidity, foreign-language consultation, difficult access).
• Travel fee: charged by zone or kilometre — typically 10 to 25 euros within the S-Bahn ring.
• On-site add-ons: ECG, rapid tests (influenza, RSV, strep), blood glucose, oxygen saturation, dressings, injections or infusions are billed separately.
• Prescription and sick-note are included in the consultation — no extra line item.
• Travel to hotels and apartments within the city is included in the usual travel fee; private addresses outside the S-Bahn ring may incur a higher travel fee.