TARMED is the official tariff structure used to bill for outpatient medical services in Switzerland. It is a complex system that assigns a certain number of "tax points" to each medical act (a consultation, a suture, an X-ray, etc.).
The final price of a service is then calculated by multiplying the number of tax points by the cantonal tax point value. This value can vary from canton to canton, which explains why the cost of the same treatment can be different in Geneva than in Zurich.
Examples of TARMED Tariff Points
Here is a simplified table to illustrate how the system works. These points represent the complexity and duration of an act.
| Service | Tax Points (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Basic consultation, first 5 minutes | 13.29 |
| Each additional 5 minutes of consultation | 11.17 |
| Telephone consultation by the doctor, per 5 min. | 8.94 |
| Blood sample collection | 5.59 |
| Simple wound suture | 33.50 |
| Chest X-ray | 27.93 |
| ECG (Electrocardiogram) | 22.34 |
Note: The points mentioned above are indicative. The final price depends on the cantonal tax point value and the specific circumstances of the consultation.