General Terms and Conditions

Notes on appointment cancellations and missed appointments

Our practice is an order / appointment practice, i.e. in order to avoid unnecessary waiting times for you, we make individual, fixed treatment appointments with you. These appointments are reserved only and exclusively for you.

By handing in your prescription and/or making an appointment for treatment – also by telephone – you enter into a „service contract for medical services“ with us. For patients with statutory health insurance, the services we provide are covered by the statutory health insurance companies, i.e. we bill the statutory health insurance companies.

Privately insured patients and patients with state aid will be invoiced personally for the treatment services provided.

In the case of missed appointments or appointments not cancelled at least 24 hours in advance (applies during practice hours and on working days Monday – Friday), we do not have the opportunity to reschedule the already firmly reserved times.

Therefore, we expressly ask our patients to cancel appointments that cannot be kept in good time – at least 24 hours in advance.

If you fail to cancel your appointments in time or at all, we are obliged to charge you for the cancelled treatment times in accordance with § 611, sentence 3, SGB (German Social Code) according to the valid treatment fees of the statutory or private health insurance companies (see also § 615, BGB).

Invoicing for missed appointments (legal background)

ELYSIO Physiotherapy, like other comparable treatment facilities, invoices its patients for the agreed value of the treatment in the event that they fail to attend treatment appointments or do not cancel them in good time (at least 24 hours before the treatment appointment). Although this is common practice, this procedure has already been met with incomprehension and rejection on several occasions by those affected. We therefore explain the legal basis for this procedure below.

(1) As soon as a patient makes an appointment for treatment in our practice, a treatment contract in the form of a service contract according to § 611 ff BGB (German Civil Code) is concluded between ELYSIO GmbH and the patient concerned. In this context, it is irrelevant whether the service is provided by a health insurance company or privately. The patient makes an offer to ELYSIO GmbH to conclude a contract (request for an appointment), which is conclusively accepted by ELYSIO GmbH by naming a specific appointment. This effectively concludes a service contract in accordance with § 611 BGB (German Civil Code); compliance with a special form of conclusion (e.g. written form) is not required. The contract may also be concluded by telephone.

(2) Based on the validly concluded contract, ELYSIO GmbH is obligated to provide the premises, treatment materials and therapists required for the treatment. Furthermore, sufficient treatment time must be reserved. In return, ELYSIO GmbH receives the agreed remuneration claim for the treatment.

The patient is contractually entitled to claim the treatment from ELYSIO GmbH. He is obliged to pay the remuneration claim (in case of legally insured persons the remuneration claim is reimbursed by the insurer).

(3) If the patient – for whatever reason – does not attend the agreed hearing, the law speaks of default of acceptance of the creditor (here: the patient). What happens in this case with the claim for remuneration is regulated by law in § 615 p.1 BGB.

ELYSIO GmbH is released from its obligation to provide treatment – in relation to the missed treatment appointment – but retains its claim to remuneration according to § 615 S.1 BGB. The content of this paragraph reads:

If the person entitled to services defaults in accepting the services, the obligated person may demand the agreed remuneration for the services not rendered as a result of the default, without being obligated to render subsequent services.

The basic idea of the law is that the service provider is dependent on the remuneration claim within the scope of his gainful activity. He provides time, personnel, premises and treatment materials. Cost-intensive dispositions are therefore to be made. He should therefore not lose his entitlement to remuneration due to events that lie in the area of risk of the person entitled to the service (here: the patient).

The entitlement to remuneration therefore remains irrespective of whether the patient was prevented from attending the appointment through no fault of his own or whether culpable conduct was the cause.

(4) It follows from the above that even in the event of non-attendance or cancellation of an agreed treatment appointment, the entitlement to remuneration for this appointment remains in principle. However, pursuant to Section 615 sentence 2 of the German Civil Code (BGB), we are obliged to use the treatment potential released by the non-attendance of the treatment appointment for other purposes and, if possible, to fill the appointment with other patients. If this is successful, the claim for remuneration against the defaulting patient cannot and will not be realized. In addition, we generally refrain from asserting the claim for reimbursement if the treatment appointment is canceled 24 hours in advance.

On the other hand, the claim for payment must always be asserted if the patient simply does not show up for the treatment appointment without any consultation. In this case, ELYSIO GmbH has basically no possibility to assign the appointment otherwise. If the appointment is canceled, but not on working days (Monday – Friday) and during practice hours at least 24 hours in advance, we will try to assign the appointment to other patients. If this is not successful, the claim for payment must also be asserted in this case.

Payment terms

Liquidations and invoices that we issue are always provided with a specific payment target / due date -. As a rule, the term of payment is specified as 14 days after the invoice is issued.

If you think that a liquidation / invoice is not correct, please contact us immediately.

We ask our customers and patients also under the background that we have already provided days, weeks or even months in advance service for you, to consider these payment terms accordingly and above all to keep.

Please always keep in mind:

Physiotherapeutic and alternative practitioner services are due independently of any or your health insurance reimbursement. Therefore, please understand that we insist on timely payment – not least to save you and us additional effort and costs.

Payments not made on time will be reminded immediately and subject to a charge. Any processing / reminder fees, possible procedural costs, etc. are to be paid in any case and will be legally claimed, as well as the full invoice amount, if necessary.