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Eckert Eye Center: Shuttle service or illegal passenger transport?
If someone undergoes a cataract operation or another outpatient procedure, they are usually not allowed to drive themselves afterwards. Relatives are not always available, public transport is often not an option.
The Eckert Eye Center has developed its own offering from this. On its website, the ophthalmology and eye clinic group advertises an 'Eye-OP Shuttle'. In medically justified cases, patients are picked up from home for a fee, taken to treatment, and then driven back home. According to the company, numerous drivers are available at various locations across Germany. On the website alone, several dozen drivers are named. The offering extends across a network of more than 60 locations.
What at first glance seems like an additional patient service raises questions upon closer inspection. For the commercial transport of persons is not a free-for-all in Germany. It is subject to the Passenger Transport Act (PBefG), which sets clear rules for taxi, rental cars and other transportation companies.
A market that has long existed: Taxi
For the taxi industry, the idea of a hospital-owned transport service initially sounds familiar. Patient transports have been part of the core business of many taxi companies for decades. This is especially true for trips to outpatient surgeries, pre- and postoperative care, or inpatient stays. Under certain conditions, health insurance companies even cover the costs. The patient transport by taxi or rental car is explicitly part of the German health care system.
Against this background, the question arises: Why would a medical company build its own transport service instead of relying on existing taxi and rental-car operators?
Taxi operators point out that they must meet extensive legal requirements. Permits, insurance, tariff regulations, operational obligations, and regulatory inspections are part of everyday life. Anyone who commercially transports persons for a fee basically needs a corresponding permit under the Passenger Transport Act.
The crucial legal question
The core of the debate lies in one detail: Is the Eckert-Shuttle truly an independent passenger transport service for a fee—or merely an ancillary service to medical treatment?
The company phrases its offer cautiously. The transport service is said to be offered "in medically justified cases" and is part of the service concept for patients. At the same time, the website explicitly refers to a transport service "for a fee."
This is precisely where the legal gray area may begin. For as soon as people are transported commercially and for payment, the Passenger Transport Act (Personenbeförderungsgesetz) should apply. The law recognizes only a few permissible forms for occasional traffic: taxi transport, rental-car transport, and some other special forms. Whoever transports people for a fee generally requires a corresponding permit.
Whether the Eye Center's shuttle service is actually subject to a permit depends on the concrete operating procedures. Questions to be clarified would include, among other things, the organizational integration, the billing, the vehicles used, and the legal approvals/licenses of the operators.
The competent authorities have so far not given a conclusive answer and have been actively involved in this question for years.
Competition issue instead of patient service?
For the taxi industry this is not only about legal fine points. Many entrepreneurs see this as a fundamental competition issue.
If a clinic or chain of clinics builds its own transport services, services are provided that are traditionally taken over by licensed transport companies. While taxi operators must keep their vehicles on standby around the clock and comply with statutory requirements, medical facilities could profit from a competitive advantage if their transport services were subject to less stringent requirements.
The discussion becomes particularly sensitive when the transport is not offered as a free service but is explicitly paid for. Then the line between patient service and independent transport offering becomes blurred.
Authorities must take a closer look at last
The case illustrates, for example, how closely health care and mobility are now intertwined. Outpatient treatments are increasing, patients travel longer distances, and the need for individualized transport solutions is growing. There is, in principle, little to object to in this. No one would deny that older patients after eye surgery need a safe ride home. The real question, however, is: who may carry out these trips—and under what conditions?
Here, licensing authorities are called upon. The trips would, according to a lawyer consulted, fall under the Passenger Transport Act with near certainty. Therefore, the same rules would have to apply as for other commercial providers. If, on the other hand, a statutory exception applies, this would also have to be convincingly justified.
Content automatically translated.
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