About us

As a partner at European and global level, the DVKA liaises for the social security institutions, as part of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband). The expertise that is available in terms of giving advice and providing services ensures that supranational and international legal relationships are established and maintained vis-à-vis insured persons, employers, social security institutions and their associations, as well as with institutions operating on the international stage. The National Contact Point that has been established at the DVKA is a competent source of information for patients in Germany and elsewhere when it comes to the treatment that is available in Germany and in the Member States of the EU.

We work in a manner that is economical and efficient, whilst continually improving our range of services. We aim in all we do to meet customers’ needs. Highly-qualified and committed staff acting independently are the key to achieving this goal.

We can trace our roots back to 1950, the year in which the Federal Republic of Germany concluded its first agreement on social security. This involved setting up liaison agencies for the individual branches of insurance in order to carry out key tasks defined in the agreement on social security. For health insurance, this was the “Association of Local Health Insurance Funds” (Vereinigung der Ortskrankenkassen), which later became the Federal Association of the AOK (AOK-Bundesverband).

Growing demands and continuous expansion

The tasks incumbent on the liaison agency were brought together in an organisational unit there. The agency was continuously expanded in order to do justice to the growing demands stemming from the conclusion of further social security agreements, the EC’s rules on social security, and national law.

The DVKA was an independent public-law corporation between 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2008, and was funded by the umbrella associations of the statutory health insurance funds. It has been a division of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds since 1 July 2008.

We advise

• the health and long-term care insurance funds
• their associations
• other social insurance institutions
• insured persons and
• employers

e.g. on matters related to the law on health insurance

• on the rules, entitlements and forms that are applicable, and on the bodies that are competent at supranational and international level when people are on holiday or take up employment abroad, as well as when relocating to another country
• related to employment as a frontier worker
• on how to charge for health insurance services which have been provided in the event of temporary or permanent residence in an EU Member State or in a country with which an agreement has been reached
• in connection with benefits provided by German health insurance funds on behalf of a competent institution abroad for persons living in Germany temporarily or permanently who are insured abroad (“mutual benefits assistance”).

Germany is to become part of the European network for the cross-border exchange of information and data on health.

Europe is becoming smaller when it comes to exchanging healthcare data. The DVKA has a statutory remit to establish and run the national eHealth Contact Point for Germany. This Contact Point is to enable personal health data to be exchanged securely, efficiently and in an interoperable manner between EU States in the future. It is therefore to operate as a technical interface to liaise with the European eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure.

Establishing and operating the national eHealth Contact Point will create a foundation enabling patients to also make their health data available to their healthcare provider in another EU Member State in the future, should this become necessary.

The two cross-border electronic healthcare services listed below are currently being tested, with this part of the process to be concluded by 2025, and are to be gradually introduced as part of a project:

• the Patient Summary (PS)
• electronic prescriptions (ePrescription)

Medical image data, laboratory results and hospital discharge reports will eventually also be available all over the EU.

Health insurance services are settled via our agency which were received on behalf of the German health insurance funds by, amongst other people, frontier workers, family members and pensioners living abroad, posted workers, and tourists. This also applies to the costs expended by German health insurance funds on behalf of foreign health insurance funds for individuals who are insured abroad.

We conclude agreements with foreign liaison bodies facilitating the practical implementation of the complex provisions of European law and other agreements in the interest of insured persons, employers and health insurance funds. We furthermore reach global exemption agreements for all fields of social security in Germany with the appropriate foreign bodies for workers who are temporarily employed abroad and would like to remain within German social insurance during this period.

We support the German health insurance funds in claiming their compensation and refund entitlements abroad. Such cases occur for instance in the event of an accident suffered abroad by an insured person with third-party culpability, or where social insurance contributions are outstanding for insured persons living abroad.

The DVKA is currently working together with institutions in the following countries: