How 116117 Actually Works in Berlin: Referral Codes, Therapy Access, and the Oversupply Paradox

The Official Rule

Start with what 116117 actually is, because the name covers two legally distinct services that happen to share one phone number. The ärztlicher Bereitschaftsdienst handles medical problems that genuinely can’t wait for your regular doctor to reopen. The Terminservicestelle (TSS) mediates non-urgent appointments, specialists and psychotherapists, for anyone with statutory (gesetzlich) insurance. Nationally, the Terminservice- und Versorgungsgesetz (TSVG) required every Kassenärztliche Vereinigung to run both under the single number 116117 by January 2020.

Berlin got there first. According to Deutsches Ärzteblatt’s coverage of the change, KV Berlin merged its separate emergency and appointment-mediation numbers under 116117 back in July 2019, six months ahead of the federal deadline, explicitly to make “the path to us as simple as possible.” KV Berlin’s own current patient page confirms the result: the number is reachable around the clock, free, for every statutorily insured Berlin resident, whether you’re calling about a feverish toddler tonight or trying to get a dermatologist appointment next month.

For most specialists, the mechanism runs through your referral. KBV’s own guidance to practices explains that when your GP or another treating doctor issues an Überweisung, their practice software generates a 12-digit alphanumeric Vermittlungscode, printed directly on the slip and valid for 28 days. The doctor also marks the case dringend (urgent) or nicht dringend when creating it. You hand that code to 116117, by phone, through the online eterminservice.de portal, or via the 116117 app, and if the case is marked urgent, Verbraucherzentrale’s consumer guidance confirms your right to an appointment within 4 weeks. The catch is real: you don’t get to choose a specific doctor or a preferred day, you get matched to whichever contracted practice has capacity within a defined travel radius, and the guarantee explicitly excludes routine checkups and minor complaints.

A short list of specialties skip the referral system entirely, GP/Hausarzt, eye doctor, gynecologist, and pediatrician, and GP mediation carries its own faster target of 5 working days per Verbraucherzentrale’s guidance, tighter than the general 4-week rule. If you’re trying to actually land one of those appointments in Berlin, including which parts of the city run short on capacity, our guide to finding a Kinderarzt or Hausarzt in Berlin covers that ground in detail, and this page won’t repeat it.

The Part Almost Nobody Mentions: Psychotherapy

116117 mediates psychotherapy access too, and it needs no referral or code at all. Per 116117.de’s own psychotherapy page, the mandatory first step is a psychotherapeutische Sprechstunde, a consultation that determines what kind of treatment fits your situation, and you can call or book it directly. When you contact 116117, it must offer you a Sprechstunde appointment within one week, and that appointment itself has to happen within 4 weeks of your call. If the consulting therapist determines your case needs Akutbehandlung, acute treatment of up to 12 sessions at 50 minutes each, available without separate insurance pre-approval, that appointment window tightens to 2 weeks. If no contracted practice can meet either deadline, 116117 is required to find you a hospital-based alternative within a further week rather than just leaving you on a waiting list. Given the general demand for mental health support among newcomers navigating a new city, language, and bureaucracy, this is one of the more useful, least-advertised parts of the whole system.

Berlin’s Oversupply Paradox

Here is where Berlin’s own data gets genuinely strange. KV Berlin’s Bedarfsplan für Berlin, the official needs-based plan that governs how many practices of each specialty are allowed to open, currently shows most specialist groups sitting at a Versorgungsgrad (coverage ratio) well above 110%, which formally triggers Zulassungssperren, admission caps that block new practices from opening in that specialty because the city is, on paper, already oversupplied. One planning area reached 167.3% coverage as of October 2025. By the letter of the plan, Berlin has more than enough cardiologists, dermatologists, and similar specialists.

Real-world waits tell a different story. Cardiology, dermatology, and radiology appointments commonly run to weeks or months in practice across Germany, a well-documented gap between formal capacity and lived access that is exactly why 116117’s 4-week mediation guarantee exists as a countervailing right. Berlin’s own Landesausschuss der Ärzte und Krankenkassen implicitly concedes the mismatch: since July 2023 it has reopened 16.5 gynecology, 1.0 dermatology, and 19.5 psychosomatic-medicine practice slots despite the formal oversupply figures, and a further decision effective 13 January 2026 created new settlement opportunities for gynecologists, psychosomatic-medicine specialists, pediatricians, and GPs. None of that would happen if the Bedarfsplan’s headline percentages told the whole story. For anyone moving to Berlin, the practical takeaway is this: don’t let an “oversupplied” statistic talk you out of using 116117’s mediation right the moment a referral doesn’t get you seen fast enough on your own.

What Actually Happens When You Call

Hold times genuinely vary, and Berlin has real published numbers on both a calm year and a bad one. Tagesspiegel Checkpoint’s 2023 reporting put the average phone hold at roughly 9 minutes, an improvement over prior years, while separately noting that home-visit waits, for when a doctor is actually dispatched to you, averaged 2.5 hours in 2023, up from 2 hours 36 minutes in 2022. Under real pressure, it looks very different: Berliner Zeitung’s February 2020 reporting, written during a severe flu season overlapping with early COVID-19 concern, documented an average January hold of about 11 minutes with individual calls stretching past 50 minutes and, in one case, over an hour, against roughly 500 to 600 calls a day and a staffing scramble from 6 simultaneous operators up to 38 spread across 3 shifts.

If your situation isn’t urgent, you can usually skip the phone queue entirely. Both eterminservice.de and the 116117 app let you search and book directly for referral-free specialties and for practices that have opted into online booking, without waiting on hold at all. Save the number regardless, but know that a bad flu week can genuinely mean a much longer wait than the current average suggests.

Step by Step

1. Check whether your situation even needs a referralGP, eye doctor, gynecologist, pediatrician, and a first psychotherapy consultation all skip the referral system entirely.
2. For any other specialist, get an Überweisung with the urgency markedAsk your doctor to mark it dringend if your case genuinely needs it, that's what unlocks the 4-week mediation right.
3. Note the 12-digit Vermittlungscode on the referral and use it within 28 daysIt's valid for that window only, whether you call, use eterminservice.de, or use the app.
4. Call 116117, or book online if your case doesn't need urgent phone triageThe number works around the clock in Berlin, but eterminservice.de and the app often get you booked faster with no hold time.
5. If it's psychotherapy you need, skip the referral and call directlyYou're entitled to a Sprechstunde offer within a week and an appointment within 4 weeks, or 2 weeks for Akutbehandlung.
6. If a specialist you need seems "oversupplied" but you can't get seen, use 116117 anywayThe formal Bedarfsplan numbers and real wait times in Berlin often don't match, and the mediation right exists precisely for that gap.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general mechanics of Germany’s 116117 appointment-mediation system as KV Berlin operates it, based on official KV Berlin, KBV, Verbraucherzentrale, and 116117.de guidance, alongside Berlin press reporting on call-center wait times and KV Berlin’s own published Bedarfsplan. It is not medical advice, and specific rules, referral requirements, and current wait times can change. For your own situation, confirm current details directly with your doctor, your Krankenkasse, or the 116117 service.