Emergency transports are to be requested from the control center of the district or independent city under the uniform emergency number 112. Ambulance transports in urgent cases are also requested from the rescue control center.

For other, non-urgent ambulance transports or ambulance rides, please contact your doctor. Your doctor will issue a prescription for you, regardless of the means of transport you choose.

Please contact your doctor to obtain a prescription for patient transport for patient journeys, patient transports or rescue journeys. He/she will issue a prescription for you in accordance with the currently valid Patient Transport Guideline of the Joint Federal Committee. This guideline in accordance with § 92 Paragraph 1 Sentence 2 Number 12 SGB V regulates the prescription of patient journeys, patient transports and rescue journeys in accordance with § 73 Paragraph 2 Sentence 1 Number 7 SGB V.

For a patient trip or a patient transport for outpatient treatment , the approval of your health insurance fund is also required. Prescriptions requiring approval must be submitted to the health insurance company in good time. The duration and scope (e.g. means of transport, outward and return journey) of the authorization are determined by the health insurance fund.

The following exceptions apply:

• Journeys to pre- or post-inpatient treatment in accordance with § 115a SGB V or to outpatient surgery in accordance with § 115b SGB V are exempt from the authorization requirement. In addition, patient transports to inpatient services do not require approval by the health insurance fund.
• For the following patient journeys, approval is deemed to have been granted in accordance with Section 60 (1) Sentence 5 of the German Social Code, Book V, so that no express approval by the health insurance fund is required:

Sick trips for outpatient treatment for insured persons who present a severely disabled person's ID card with the mark "aG", "Bl" or "H" or a notice of classification in accordance with SGB XI in care level 3, 4 or 5 at the time of the prescription and who, if classified in care level 3, require transportation due to permanent impairment of their mobility (also fulfilled for insured persons who were classified in care level 2 until December 31, 2016 and have been classified at least in care level 3 since January 1, 2017).

• Spatially limited and time-limited special arrangements in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic:

In light of the challenges of managing the epidemic outbreak due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the Federal Joint Committee may, by separate resolution based on Section 9(2a) of its Rules of Procedure, authorize the following spatially limited and time-limited exceptions to the provisions of the Patient Transport Guidelines if, depending on the nature of the outbreak, they are necessary and required to contain and manage infections or to protect health care facilities from congestion:

1. prior authorization by the Health Plan is not required for ambulance transports for urgent outpatient treatment that cannot be postponed for those who are documented to have COVID-19 or for Insureds who are quarantined under an administrative order.

2. prescriptions for ambulance transport and ambulance rides may also be issued after a medical history has been taken by telephone and transmitted by the contracting physician by mail to an insured known in the physician's office, provided that the prescribing contracting physician has satisfied himself or herself of the insured's condition by means of a thorough telephone interview.

These exceptions apply if the prescription was issued by a panel physician based in one of the areas defined by a separate exceptional decision of the Joint Federal Committee or if the insured's place of residence is located within one of these areas. If and as long as the German Bundestag has determined an epidemic situation of national scope in accordance with Section 5 (1) of the Infection Protection Act, the exemption regulation under 1. applies nationwide.

In cases of doubt, it is recommended that you clarify with your health insurance fund whether one of the exceptions applies to your specific case.