Service text
„Beratung - auch mittels Fernsprecher -“Not alongside — per the Gebührenverzeichnis (42)
Numbers the fee schedule names together with this one in an exclusion sentence. Open a chip for the wording, in German, and where it stands; about a particular case the sentence says only what it says.
Number 1 is the shortest service in the Gebührenverzeichnis: a consultation, expressly including by phone, valued at 80 points. That gives 4,66 € at the single rate and 10,72 € at the 2.3-fold rate. What matters about this number is less the amount than the series of provisions that say when it no longer stands alongside something else.
The service text of Number 1
The Gebührenverzeichnis's service text for this number is one line long and reads in full as above. Nothing more stands there. What a consultation consists of, the ordinance does not define; what it is not, it defines very precisely elsewhere.
The addition about the telephone is why this number turns up so often in everyday practice: the phone call is not an exception that something else applies to — it is named in the service text itself. Whether a particular call was a consultation is not decided by the medium.
What is expressly excluded stands in the Allgemeine Bestimmungen to Abschnitt B: „Terminvereinbarungen sind nicht berechnungsfähig.“ — arranging an appointment is not billable. That is the ordinance's own sentence, not a suggested interpretation.
The sentences below stand exactly like this in the Gebührenverzeichnis — some as an Allgemeine Bestimmung to Abschnitt B, some directly under Number 1. They are quoted here in German, word for word rather than summarized, because the German wording is what is legally binding: the sentence that excludes two numbers from each other is exactly the sentence that matters, and a paraphrase of it would be a claim of its own. The English text after each dash is a working translation, not a substitute for the statutory wording.
- „Als Behandlungsfall gilt für die Behandlung derselben Erkrankung der Zeitraum eines Monats nach der jeweils ersten Inanspruchnahme des Arztes.“ — For treatment of the same illness, the treatment case is the period of one month after the patient's first attendance.
- „Die Leistungen nach den Nummern 1 und/oder 5 sind neben Leistungen nach den Abschnitten C bis O im Behandlungsfall nur einmal berechnungsfähig.“ — Services under Numbers 1 and/or 5 may be billed only once per treatment case alongside services under Abschnitte C to O.
- „Die Leistungen nach den Nummern 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 und/oder 8 können an demselben Tag nur dann mehr als einmal berechnet werden, wenn dies durch die Beschaffenheit des Krankheitsfalls geboten war. Bei mehrmaliger Berechnung ist die jeweilige Uhrzeit der Leistungserbringung in der Rechnung anzugeben. Bei den Leistungen nach den Nummern 1, 5, 6, 7 und/oder 8 ist eine mehrmalige Berechnung an demselben Tag auf Verlangen, bei der Leistung nach Nummer 3 generell zu begründen.“ — Services under Numbers 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8 may be billed more than once on the same day only where the nature of the case required it. Where billed more than once, the time each service was performed must be stated on the invoice. For services under Numbers 1, 5, 6, 7 and/or 8, billing more than once on the same day must be justified on request; for the service under Number 3, always.
- „Die Leistungen nach den Nummern 1, 3, 22, 30 und/oder 34 sind neben den Leistungen nach den Nummern 804 bis 812, 817, 835, 849, 861 bis 864, 870, 871, 886 sowie 887 nicht berechnungsfähig.“ — Services under Numbers 1, 3, 22, 30 and/or 34 may not be billed alongside services under Numbers 804 to 812, 817, 835, 849, 861 to 864, 870, 871, 886 or 887.
- „Terminvereinbarungen sind nicht berechnungsfähig.“ — Arranging an appointment is not billable.
The multiplier for Number 1
Number 1 stands in Abschnitt B, so it falls within the ordinary fee range: from the single rate up to the 3.5-fold rate, with the 2.3-fold rate as the span within which, under § 5 Abs. 2 Satz 4 GOÄ, a fee is as a rule assessed.
Above the 2.3-fold rate, § 12 Abs. 3 GOÄ requires a written justification tied to the particular service, comprehensible and traceable for the person liable to pay. For a service whose entire service text is one line long, that justification has to take its content from somewhere else — and that somewhere is the treatment record.
§ 5 Abs. 2 GOÄ names the criteria that fee is measured against: the difficulty and the time taken for the particular service, and the circumstances of how it was performed. Criteria already accounted for in the service description are left out of consideration.
What the record has to carry for Number 1
The treatment record is independent of the fee schedule — § 630f BGB requires it in immediate temporal connection with the treatment, whether billed privately or through statutory insurance. For Number 1, though, the two duties meet at one point: whatever the consultation was about is also exactly what a justification above the usual rate would have to draw on.
The Allgemeine Bestimmung on billing more than once on the same day requires the respective time on the invoice. An invoice can only carry that time if it was recorded somewhere — as a rule in the record, not in memory.
The same applies to a phone call as to a conversation in the consulting room: it belongs in the record, and with what was discussed, not just with the fact that a call took place.
Frequently asked questions
Is a phone call billable under Number 1?
The service text names the consultation „auch mittels Fernsprecher“ — including by telephone — so the call is contained in the wording of the service itself. The Allgemeine Bestimmungen to Abschnitt B exclude it nowhere; they expressly exclude only arranging an appointment.
How often may Number 1 be billed in a day?
More than once on the same day only where the nature of the case required it. The ordinance then requires the respective time each service was performed on the invoice, and a justification on request.
What does Number 1 cost at the 2.3-fold rate?
80 points times the point value of 5,82873 Cent give 4,66 € at the single rate; 2.3 times that is 10,72 €, and 3.5 times is 16,32 €. Rounding is to the cent, under § 5 Abs. 1 Satz 4 GOÄ.