Regulation
To participate as a patient in the medical training therapy, a medical prescription is required. The prerequisite for this is that there is a corresponding indication, i.e. an illness that justifies the prescription of the medical training therapy. Alternatively, many physiotherapy practices and orthopaedic surgeons with appropriately trained personnel also offer medical training therapy as a service for self-payers.
A cost estimate for your insurance provides clarity. In general, medical training therapy is usually prescribed by doctors as physiotherapy on the device. Per prescription the patient gets 6 units a 60min written down.
A total of 3 prescriptions are possible. This is regulated in the catalog of remedies, which is used as a guide by the prescribing doctors. There you will find information on which form of therapy is suitable for which diagnosis in order to achieve the therapy goals.
In order for the doctor to issue the prescription, he must first carry out an initial diagnosis. This means that the physician undertakes measures to investigate the cause and to precisely determine or name the damage or disorder. This process must be repeated for the issuing of follow-up prescriptions to justify further treatment.
If the total number of prescriptions is reached before the therapy is finished and there is still a justified need to continue the therapy, the doctor can also issue further prescriptions outside of the normal case. However, these must be submitted to and approved by the responsible health insurance company. The patient pays a certain prescription fee per prescription as a personal contribution, the rest is covered by the health insurance company.
The situation is somewhat different for private insurance holders. The medical training therapy is not limited to three prescriptions but you may have to pay for longer prescriptions. You can find more detailed information on the website of the German Medical Association or your health insurance company.
Costs (health insurance companies)
The costs of medical training therapy in Germany are mainly covered by the statutory health insurance.This can be explained quite simply by the fact that the majority of German residents have compulsory health insurance. Civil servants and private insurance holders are an exception. Other cost bearers can be, for example, a pension or accident insurance, in some cases also a trade association.
As a rule, the statutory health insurance companies cover the costs of medical training therapy within the framework of the remedies catalog, i.e. as long as the total number of 3 prescriptions is not exceeded, the health insurance company pays for the therapy. The policyholder only pays a prescription fee, which in most cases is between 20-50€ depending on the extent of the therapy. More information can be found in the article Physiotherapy Costs If further prescriptions are necessary to achieve the therapy, the policyholder must submit the prescription to his health insurance company to obtain a special permission to continue and pay for the medical training therapy.