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Complementary therapy Recognition & reimbursement

Tariff 590 is used to standardise the names of alternative treatment methods and the way they are billed. It covers therapies, procedures and techniques with the corresponding billing codes.

CSS guidelines for complementary medicine

CSS is committed to working in partnership in the healthcare sector. Transparency and professionalism are very important to us in this respect. That’s why we set out key standards and basic considerations in our CSS guidelines (valid as of 1 May 2020).

Recognition with qualification

As of 1 January 2024, we only recognise therapists who have one of the following qualifications:

  • Federal diploma
  • OdA KT certificate
  • OdA Artecura certificate and EMR registration of years of professional experience
  • OdA AM certificate
  • Federal Diploma of Higher Education
  • BSc or MSc in Osteopathy

Recognition without qualification: If you practise a recognised method for which there is not yet any professional development path and respective qualification, you aren't affected by this rule.

Transitional period for already recognised therapists

For therapists recognised by CSS on 31 December 2023 who don't have any of these qualifications, we’re granting a transitional period. The transitional period runs until 31 December 2039. You will continue to be recognised by us until the end of this period provided your EMR registration remains active throughout the entire period. Recognition will lapse after that if you don't have any of the required qualifications by then.

Tariff 590 is binding

Complementary medical services must be billed in accordance with tariff 590. A team of insurers and the umbrella organisations serving the complementary medical sector continue to work on the tariff to ensure optimum billing.

The tariff may be adjusted at the start of each new year. So, keep yourself regularly informed about the tariff and whether anything has changed for you.

Maximum prices: maximum reimbursement per five minutes

CSS wants to provide its clients with attractive offers at premiums that remain affordable in the long term. This means that therapeutic treatments must be both effective and cost-efficient.

To ensure cost-efficiency, we set maximum prices for the reimbursement of therapy costs (maximum reimbursement of five-minute price). You can find the current list of methods to which a maximum price applies, here:

We reimburse costs to our clients in line with our maximum prices. Therapists may nevertheless continue to apply their own tariffs in keeping with their treatment concept and costs.

Sample bill

Date Tariff Code Number per 5 min. Rate per 5 min. Tariff point value VAT Amount
02/06 590 1025 Connective tissue massage 4 10 1 0 CHF 40
17/06 590 1066 Lymph drainage 12 10 1 0 CHF 120

Billing procedure: How to submit your bills to us

It’s important to submit bills that comply with the latest invoicing standard. You’ll find acceptable software providers in the following list:

Contact

Do you have any questions about tariff 590? Or do you need any other information about complementary medicine?