Germany Telehealth
Overview
Germany’s aging population and persistent shortage of medical personnel have made innovation essential to ensure positive patient outcomes. Telehealth—whether through online doctor visits or other digital care services—is a key innovation that is increasingly being harnessed to improve patient outcomes. The German telehealth market (excluding digital fitness products and health trackers) is predicted to grow from a revenue of $2.79B in 2024 to a projected $4.4B by 2030, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.54%. The German government has also worked to modernize the healthcare sector, passing the Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) in 2019, the Digital Health Applications Ordinance (DiGAV) in 2020 and the Digital Care and Nursing Modernization Act (DVPMG) in 2021, creating the regulatory framework for the expansion of telehealth as well as the buildout of digital infrastructure for the German healthcare sector. The expansion of digital health infrastructure with the introduction of electronic patient records (ePA), electronic prescriptions (E-Rezept), and digital health applications (DiGA) have the potential to accelerate the adoption of telehealth services and create new efficiencies in the German healthcare sector.
Market Overview
Total revenue in the digital treatment and care (excluding online doctor consultations) market in Germany was $2.32 billion in 2024, projected to reach 3.82 billion in 2029. The penetration rate for digital treatment was only 18.1 percent in 2024 but is projected to reach 28.08 percent in 2029. These figures remain relatively low when compared to the United States, a global leader in telehealth, which had penetration rates of 41.58 percent in 2024, projected to reach 65.11 percent in 2029. Interestingly, the figures for online doctor consultations are more similar in both nations, at 2.7 percent in 2024 in the United States and 2.29 percent in Germany during the same time.
Competitive Landscape
The German telehealth market is largely composed of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). One notable example is HelloBetter, a mental health platform that currently offers six DiGA-approved online therapy courses, including programs for stress, sleep, panic, vaginismus, diabetes, and chronic pain, all available by prescription and covered by statutory health insurance.
Large, established healthcare companies are also increasingly active in this space. For instance, Pfizer partnered with the German startup Selfapy to launch “Selfapy’s Online Course for Chronic Pain,” a reimbursable 12-week digital therapy program now listed in the DiGA directory. This collaboration reflects a broader trend of traditional healthcare players supporting the development and market entry of digital health applications.
Another example of corporate interest in DiGA startups is the acquisition of Mementor, the Leipzig-based developer of the digital insomnia therapy solution Somnio, by the American sleep healthcare company ResMed. Somnio is Germany’s first and only permanently approved DiGA for sleep medicine and is reimbursed by health insurers.
The involvement of major healthcare companies in DiGA startups signals growing confidence in the sector and suggests that promising telehealth startups in Germany may have attractive exit opportunities through partnerships or acquisitions by established industry players.
Challenges
Under the Digital Supply and Care Modernization Law (DVPMG), the German federal government has provided a fast-track process for approval of apps and other web-based services, known as digital health applications (DiGA) and digital nursing applications (DiPA). The process is nonetheless rather time consuming, taking up to 3 months for services that can demonstrate, “positive healthcare effects,” or, “medizinischer Nutzen (mN)” which are defined in the Digital Health Applications Regulation (DiGAV) as: patient-relevant effect(s), particularly regarding - the improvement of the state of health, - the reduction of the duration of a disease, - the prolongation of survival or - an improvement in the quality of life.
If a firm cannot demonstrate these effects during the initial application/review process, then a trial can take place under provisional listing in the DiGA directory, which can take up to 12 months, during which manufacturers bear the costs. Alongside this process, there are also a multitude of regulations regarding user data, falling under both the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). This bureaucracy, while well-defined and structured, takes time and resources away from potential market entrants, which can be detrimental for smaller, start-up firms. Language localization also proves a potential challenge, as most DiGA-approved applications are indigenously produced and tailored to the German language, making localization a must for any potential entrants.
Click here to view An English-language guide to the DiGA fast-track process published by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).
Opportunities
The Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) and Digital Health Applications Ordinance (DiGAV) provide that those services and applications which have been listed on the DiGA registry are entitled to reimbursement by public health insurance. Public health insurance in Germany covers 73 million people, 86.5 percent of the population, creating a large total addressable market. Currently, at the time of writing in June of 2025, there are only 69 approved services on the DiGA registry, covering psychiatric, physical and other illnesses. The fast-track approval process, while time-intensive, allows new entrants the ability to address the needs of an aging and increasingly in-need-of-treatment population within Germany.
Trade Shows
DMEA Digital Health Trade Show - Berlin
Medica Medical Technology Trade Show - Dusseldorf
U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Contact Information:
For additional Information, please contact:
Ulrike Riegeler
Commercial Specialist
Email: Ulrike.Riegeler@trade.gov
Phone: +49 69 7535 3157