Outpatient tariffs in Switzerland
Outpatient tariffs have been a major topic in the Swiss health care system for some time. The fee-for-service tariff TARMED, which has never been revised in its entirety, no longer meets the requirements of a tariff system for various reasons. Based on this initial situation, a lot has been happening in recent years and two new tariffs have been developed that are expected to replace TARMED from 2025. You can find out more about the current developments in the outpatient tariff system in Switzerland on the following page:
Below you will find a brief overview of the three current, or future, outpatient medical tariffs of the Swiss health system:
TARMED
The nationally valid tariff system TARMED (from the French tarif médical) has been in force since 1 January 2004. This is a fee-for-service tariff, in which each service is billed individually. At the beginning of 2025, TARMED is expected to be replaced by a combination of TARDOC and outpatient flat rates. Learn more about the structure and functioning of the currently valid outpatient medical tariff TARMED on the following knowledge page:
TARDOC
TARDOC is the new fee-for-service tariff that is to replace the outdated TARMED. TARDOC was developed by the FMH in collaboration with curafutura and the UVG Medical Tariff Commission (MTK) and a first version was submitted to the Federal Council for approval in 2019. To date, however, no approval of the TARDOC has been granted (not even for the subsequent versions). At the beginning of December 2023, a new version of TARDOC was submitted to the Federal Council together with the new outpatient flat rates. With this fifth version, TARDOC is to be introduced together with the new outpatient flat rates as a holistic tariff system at the beginning of 2025. You can find out more about the history and structure of the TARDOC tariff on the following knowledge page:
Outpatient flat rates - Tariff
Clearly defined flat rates are already used in a few areas such as eye surgery. These are contractually defined between the service providers and payers. In future, flat rates will also be used more widely in the outpatient sector. It is hoped that the introduction of flat rates will have a positive effect, especially for highly standardised and cost-intensive services (such as operations or complex diagnostics). Among other things, the incentives should help to stabilise the cost trend and also achieve greater transparency.
For this purpose, santésuisse and H+ jointly developed a catalogue of outpatient flat rates. It is now planned that the outpatient flat rates will be introduced together with the TARDOC tariff at the beginning of 2025. Read more about the outpatient flat rates on the corresponding knowledge page:
If you have questions or projects concerning the outpatient tariff systems, eonum can support you optimally with our great know-how. Find out more about our advisory services on outpatient tariffs in Switzerland on our offers page: