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Expert Advice: Collaborating with Physicians in Germany

Expert Advice: Collaborating with Physicians in Germany

Kristin Memm, medical law, ethics in medicine, digital health expert and coach at Vision Health Pioneers Incubator, shares invaluable insights on forming partnerships in healthcare, with a focus on the specific rules and challenges in Germany. Collaborating with physicians is uniquely complex compared to partnerships with hospitals, associations, or non-medical partners.

the golden rule:

In Germany, medical decisions in patient treatment must never be influenced by non-medical factors. This principle forms the foundation of three key “don’ts” for working with physicians:

1. No Financial Ties to Prescriptions:

A prescribing physician should not hold shares in your company or benefit financially from prescriptions involving your product.

2. No Referral Payments:

Avoid granting payments or other benefits tied to referrals or prescriptions.

3. No Inappropriate Renumeration:

Any payment for additional services, like lectures or consulting, must be fair and proportional.

What You Can Do:

In Germany, you can hire physicians as consultants for product development or as speakers, as long as the payments are reasonable and not linked to referrals or prescriptions.

Unfair payments can break professional rules, as they might suggest influencing a doctor’s clinical decisions for non-medical reasons—something strictly forbidden by German medical law.

Kristin’s advice provides clear guidelines for building partnerships in healthcare while staying ethical and legal. Are you following these principles in your collaborations?

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