Outpatient care landscape: What has happened in 2024?
26.02.2025 14:45
Family doctors in Berlin and Saarland are particularly challenged. There are significant differences in outpatient care across districts. Female physicians are more likely to be employed than male physicians. Medical care centers (MVZs) continue to grow. The top 5 specialties.
General practitioners in Berlin and Saarland have to care for significantly more patients on average than in the other federal states: there are more than 1,500 residents per general practitioner. The situation could worsen in the coming years: Our Supply Analysis 2023 had shown that Saarland also has the highest proportion of practicing physicians who will soon reach retirement age (20.1 percent).
Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia are also above the national average of 1,371 people per family doctor: there are more than 1,400 inhabitants per family doctor in each of them.
Lower Saxony, Bremen and Hamburg are very close to the national average, with a population of between 1,376 and 1,400 to be served.
The situation is even better for general practitioners in Saxony, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein: Here the number of inhabitants to be cared for is between 1,305 and 1,352.
The situation is most relaxed in Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: there are on average fewer than 1,300 residents per family doctor.
Large differences in outpatient care in the districts
If one compares the density of outpatient service providers in the individual districts and independent cities, considerable differences become apparent: While, for example, there are an average of 169 residents for each service provider in the urban district of Heidelberg, there are 1,055 residents in the district of Landshut – that is more than six times as many.
Our map shows which districts perform better than the national average by color: Blue areas have a higher density of service providers, meaning service providers have to serve fewer residents there. Red areas, on the other hand, have a lower density of service providers.
How many inhabitants a service provider has to care for is shown the map interactively when you select the desired area. All physicians, dentists, and psychological psychotherapists who actively practice in outpatient care, i.e., those who are not retired or on parental leave, were taken into account.
Female doctors are more often employed than male doctors
In outpatient care, physicians have several employment options: In addition to the traditional practice setting, they can also work as employees in practices or medical care centers (MVZs). In 2024, one-third of female physicians and one-quarter of female dentists were employed. For psychological psychotherapists, however, employment has so far played only a minor role.
For men, the proportion of employees is lower in all groups: only one in four doctors and one in seven dentists is employed, and for psychological psychotherapists the figure is only 6.4 percent.
A look at the various work models reveals an above-average proportion of women employed in practices: Almost two-thirds of the physicians employed there are female. In contrast, the proportions of men and women among practice owners and physicians in medical care centers are evenly distributed.
Medical care centers continue to grow
The number of physicians running their own practices fell again in 2024. The proportion of those employed in practices also declined slightly.
In contrast, the proportion of physicians employed in medical care centers (MVZs) has continued to rise: In 2022, the proportion was 13.8 percent; currently, it is 16.2 percent. In absolute terms, this corresponds to an increase of approximately 7,000 physicians over the past two years.
The top 5 disciplines
Among outpatient service providers in 2024, dentists will be the largest group with a share of 20.4 percent, followed by psychological psychotherapists with 11.9 percent. Internists will be the largest medical specialist group, accounting for 6.6 percent of outpatient service providers. Gynecologists will be in fourth place with 4.9 percent, and orthopedists will be in fifth place with 4.1 percent.
Methodology & framework data
Period examined: 2024 (reference dates for comparison: 31.12.2023 / 31.12.2024)
Database: Structural directory of care
The analysis included practicing physicians, dentists and psychological psychotherapists as well as employed practitioners in practices and medical care centers (MVZ).
Physicians who work in the inpatient sector, are not involved in patient care, or are retired, on parental leave, or similar, were not taken into account.