Consumer advocates criticize Doctolib and Jameda as "not user-friendly"

According to a recent study by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), online appointment booking via the doctor portals Doctolib and Jameda is often not user-friendly for patients. As a result, there are numerous hurdles when searching for doctor's appointments – such as inadequate filter functions, unavailable appointments or appointments that end up being charged for, as well as a lack of alternatives to online booking.

User-friendliness leaves a lot to be desired

As part of a market check, the consumer advice center analyzed 80 search results from the two portals. In almost a fifth of the cases, practices were listed that did not have any appointments available. Even if appointments initially appeared to be bookable, less than half actually turned out to be suitable – for example, because no new patients were accepted or the type of appointment was not suitable. Appointments were often offered as private consultations or self-pay appointments, although this was supposed to be excluded by a filter.

A representative survey commissioned by the vzbv also revealed that 38 percent of respondents had booked a doctor's appointment online in the last twelve months. More than half stated that it was not possible to make an appointment by telephone with the practices. More than 40 percent of users reported negative experiences with the platforms – for example because no suitable or prompt appointments were available or the booking process failed.

Criticism of commercial portals

“Access to medical care must not depend on whether patients want to entrust their sensitive health data to a commercial provider. The new federal government must oblige medical practices to offer alternative ways of booking appointments, especially by telephone,” says Thomas Moormann, Head of the Health and Care Team at vzbv.

Moormann considers it problematic if doctors' appointments are only made via commercial appointment portals. Commercial providers such as Doctolib, which recently announced that it would use data to train AI models, are repeatedly criticized. “Access to medical care must remain free from commercial interests”. The consumer advice center is therefore calling on the German government to set minimum standards for appointment portals. Accordingly, the range of services offered by the appointment service centers of the associations of statutory health insurance physicians should be expanded to reduce dependence on commercial providers.

In addition, the booking of a doctor's appointment should not be linked to the mandatory creation of a customer account. Medical practices should continue to offer alternative ways of making appointments, particularly by telephone. According to Moormann, self-pay appointments and private consultations should also be clearly marked and only shown to those with statutory health insurance on request.

A total of 80 search results from twelve searches on Doctolib and Jameda were evaluated for the market check in February 2025. The study focused on the perspective of new patients with statutory health insurance in Berlin and Hamburg. 1,000 internet users aged 16 and over took part in the survey.

(mack)