Health Insurers Prevail in Ambulance Service Fee Dispute - Court overturns Brandenburg's ambulance fee model in insurer victory

A group of eleven health insurers has won a legal battle against the Teltow-Fläming district over ambulance fees. The dispute centred on charges for emergency call-outs where paramedics were sent but did not transport patients to hospital. On Wednesday, the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg ruled the district's fee structure invalid.

The case began when statutory and private insurers argued that the district's fee model ignored costs from 'false call-outs' and 'false alarms'. These include situations where ambulances respond but no hospital transport is needed. The Brandenburg Emergency Services Act explicitly requires such cases to be factored into pricing.

The court found that the district had divided projected emergency costs by total expected deployments without accounting for non-transport cases. As a result, the judges declared the fee regulations unlawful. The ruling affects most emergency providers in Brandenburg, as similar fee structures are used across the region.

The eleven insurers now have the option to escalate the decision to the Federal Administrative Court for further review.

The judgment forces the Teltow-Fläming district to revise its ambulance fee system. Emergency service providers statewide may also need to adjust their pricing models. The outcome could lead to changes in how false call-outs and non-transport cases are funded in Brandenburg.