Nov 05, 2026

Tariff 595 becomes mandatory for courses and subscriptions

From 1 January 2027, subscriptions and courses will be billed under Tariff 595 only. Who is affected, and what should practices prepare now?

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What is Tariff 595?

Tariff 595 is the uniform Swiss billing standard for health promotion and prevention services, such as training subscriptions, group courses and personal training. It applies to supplementary insurance under the VVG (Insurance Contract Act), not to basic insurance. From 1 January 2027 it is mandatory: health insurers will no longer accept receipts in the old format.

Behind the tariff stands the Health Promotion Round Table: ten health insurers, including CSS, Helsana, SWICA and Visana, as well as the certification bodies EMfit, Fitnessguide, QualiCert and Qualitop. The tariff number is administered by the Forum Datenaustausch.

What changes from 1 January 2027?

Until now, fitness centres, course providers and practices with a training offer issued a subscription confirmation, often on their own templates. That variety ends. For all subscriptions issued from 1 January 2027, the following applies:

  • Receipts from software only. The receipt must be created with professional software in the XML 5.0 invoice standard, the machine-readable format that insurers process automatically. Self-made documents are no longer accepted.
  • GLN and ZSR number. The GLN (Global Location Number) identifies the person providing the service. The ZSR number identifies the provider to the insurers. Both are issued by the certification bodies.
  • Complete customer data. Every receipt must include the AHV number and the insurance number.
  • Flat rate instead of time-based billing. Each tariff code covers a whole offer: per lesson, per month or per year. The tariff sets no prices.
  • Reorganised codes. The tariff list was extended as of 1 January 2027. Pilates, for example, now belongs to the group «Bewegung und Koordination» (movement and coordination); the previous Pilates codes expire at the end of 2026.
  • Always tiers garant. Customers pay themselves and claim the amount back from their insurer. There are currently no contracts for direct payment.

Besides the paper receipt, transmission via the electronic tiers garant is possible, but voluntary.

The new tariff only governs billing. Whether and how much an insurer reimburses is still decided by the insurer according to its own terms.

Does Tariff 595 affect your practice?

What matters is not the profession but the service. The tariff covers health promotion, that is, offers used without a medical prescription. Therapeutic services under the KVG (Health Insurance Act) remain unaffected.

Physiotherapy with a training area or courses

According to SWICA, physiotherapy and medical practices can also use Tariff 595. It becomes relevant as soon as your practice sells health-promotion offers alongside therapy: a subscription for the training area, back exercise in a group or a Pilates course. There are dedicated codes for typical practice offers, such as back problems, osteoporosis, fall prevention and pelvic floor.

The ZSR number you need is issued by the certification bodies. It differs from the one you use to bill physiotherapy.

Complementary medicine: still Tariff 590

Complementary medicine therapists expressly cannot use Tariff 595. Their services continue to be billed under Tariff 590, including preventive group courses. These are billed with the treatment reason “prevention” and marked as a group course in the remarks field.

Anyone who also works as a certified course provider in health promotion needs a separate ZSR number for that and keeps the services on separate invoices: therapy under Tariff 590, health promotion under Tariff 595.

Tariff 595 and Tariff 590 compared

  • Field: Tariff 590 for complementary medicine, Tariff 595 for health promotion and prevention, both under supplementary insurance (VVG)
  • Billing: Tariff 590 by time in 5-minute units, Tariff 595 flat rate per lesson, month or year
  • Recognition via: Tariff 590 EMR, ASCA and other registers, Tariff 595 EMfit, Fitnessguide, Qualitop, QualiCert
  • Software requirement: Tariff 590 since 1 January 2022, Tariff 595 from 1 January 2027

An example from a physiotherapy practice

A patient has completed a prescribed series of medical training therapy (MTT) and wants to keep training on your practice's equipment. She takes out a six-month subscription at CHF 80 per month.

You bill the prescribed MTT as before under the physiotherapy tariff. For the subscription, from 2027 you issue a receipt under Tariff 595:

  • Tariff code 1001 «Training auf der Trainingsfläche, pro 1 Monat» (training on the training floor, per month)
  • Quantity 6 at CHF 80, amount CHF 480
  • Date of the invoice line: the actual start of the subscription, not shifted at the customer's request
  • In the invoice header: duration of the whole subscription, treatment reason “prevention”, law VVG

The patient receives the receipt with all pages and submits it herself to her supplementary insurer. A 10-class pass for a back course in a group works the same way: tariff code 5016 «Trainingsangebote bei Rückenbeschwerden, pro 1 Lektion» (training offers for back problems, per lesson), quantity 10.

Mind the VAT: medical treatments are exempt, training subscriptions and courses may be subject to VAT. Clarify this with your accountant beforehand.

What practices should do now

  1. Sort your offering. Which services are prescribed therapy, which are health promotion? Only the latter fall under the new tariff.
  2. Clarify recognition, ZSR and GLN. Ask your certification body whether all numbers for the practice, location and professionals are in place. The certification bodies guarantee the GLN by the end of 2026.
  3. Check your software. It must know Tariff 595 in the version valid from 2027 and create receipts in XML 5.0. You can read more about the standard in our article on the XML 5.0 billing standard.
  4. Complete customer data. AHV and insurance numbers are missing in many customer files. Record them now, not with the first receipt in January.
  5. Plan for the turn of the year. The obligation applies to subscriptions issued from 1 January 2027. What you issue by the end of December is not yet covered.
  6. Inform customers. The new receipt replaces the previous confirmation.

With xatlaMed, from 1 January 2027 you create receipts under Tariff 595 in the XML 5.0 standard, in the same system in which you bill your therapies. You do not need a second software for this. You can read more about billing on our page for practice software for physiotherapy.

Conclusion

Tariff 595 brings to health promotion what complementary medicine has known since 2022 with Tariff 590: uniform tariff codes, machine-readable receipts and the end of home-made forms.

For most therapy practices, nothing changes. Affected are practices that offer training subscriptions or courses alongside therapy. Those who sort out numbers, customer data and software before the turn of the year will issue the first receipt in January without a rejection.

Further information (sources in German):