Falling prescription margins and a growing health awareness are putting self pay services in focus for pharmacies. Diagnostic checks, advice and prevention can be offered as a private service, provided you keep cleanly within the legal limits, get price transparency right, and separate them properly from statutory insurance services. This guide sorts out the rules and shows where diagnostics fits in as a self pay offering.
What are self pay services in the pharmacy?
Self pay services are health offerings that customers pay for privately, without cost coverage by statutory health insurance. In the pharmacy these include prevention checks, blood value measurements, advice offerings and measurements. They complement the classic medicines business and create a second pillar as a local health location.
The term individual health services (IGeL), familiar from the doctor's practice, describes services outside the statutory insurance catalogue that insured people pay for themselves. For pharmacies the same basic logic applies: these are voluntary, privately financed offerings. What matters is the clear separation from the five existing pharmaceutical services (pDL), which are paid from a separate pot and are not a self pay service.
Which self pay services may pharmacies offer?
Pharmacies may offer services that are customary for a pharmacy and serve health, for example prevention measurements, blood value determinations and advice. What is already possible today and what needs doctor-led training depends on the type and scope. Treatment, making a diagnosis and recommending therapy remain medical tasks and are not a permissible pharmacy service.
Capillary measurements, for example with a capillary blood system, are already possible today. The venous blood draw is reserved under the ApoVWG for licensed pharmacists after doctor-led training, and pharmacy technicians (PTA) are not provided for as things stand. What is decisive is that the pharmacy collects and contextualises values but makes no diagnosis and prescribes no therapy.
How do self pay services differ from statutory insurance services?
Self pay services are paid privately and sit outside the statutory insurance catalogue. Insurance services, by contrast, are billed through health insurance, and the new and existing pharmaceutical services come from their own pay pot. Avoid any blurring: a self pay service must not be presented as an insurance service, or the other way round.
The overview below separates the three kinds of service by how each one is financed.
Three kinds of service and how each is financed
| Kind of service |
Financing |
Example |
| Self pay service |
Privately, directly by the customer |
Private prevention check, blood value determination |
| Pharmaceutical service (pDL) |
Its own pay pot |
Existing pDL at a fixed price |
| Classic statutory insurance service |
Statutory health insurance |
Dispensing medicines on an insurance prescription |
Looking at the three categories and how each is financed helps with the classification. The pharmaceutical services cover ten services in total as things stand, five existing ones with fixed prices and five new ones still under negotiation, eight of them usable without a doctor's prescription. The pDL pot stood at around 537 million euros as of March 2026.
What does price transparency for self pay services have to look like?
The price has to be communicated clearly, completely and in writing before the service. Customers should know what they pay, what the service covers and what it does not. Transparent labelling builds trust and prevents misunderstandings. Avoid hidden extra costs and make the self pay character unmistakable.
- Name the service and its scope unambiguously, including the values measured.
- State the total price before the service and record it in writing.
- Flag the self pay character clearly, do not suggest any insurance billing.
- Point out that the results need medical interpretation.
- No promises of cure or therapy in the price or the description.
A written service and price overview has proved itself, naming the individual service, its scope and the total price. For diagnostic offerings that also includes a note that a single blood value is not a diagnosis and belongs in the medical context. That keeps the offering professionally clean and the customer's expectation realistic.
What should you watch when advertising self pay services?
Advertising for health services falls under the Heilmittelwerbegesetz (HWG), the German act on advertising in the field of healthcare. It may inform factually but must contain no promises of cure, guarantees of success or fear-based advertising. Describe what is measured and what value the interpretation has, without assuring any specific cure or prevention of illness. Word it neutrally and verifiably rather than sensationally.
Instead of promising that a test prevents an illness, communicate the information value: a check shows orienting values that are to be interpreted together with medical advice. Reference ranges are only ever orienting guide values and depend on the lab. This factual language is not only legally safe, it also strengthens credibility with health-conscious customers.
Why are self pay services worth it for the pharmacy?
Self pay services open up a second pillar beyond falling prescription margins and bind customers to the pharmacy through recurring prevention. They position the dispensary as a personal health location that mail order cannot reproduce. Diagnostics and advice create footfall, trust and reasons for follow-up conversations.
The structural advantage lies in proximity: blood value determination, interpretation and advice are personal services on site. That clearly differentiates the bricks-and-mortar pharmacy from pure medicines mail order. Anyone who offers diagnostics cleanly, transparently and in line with the HWG turns a one-off contact into a recurring health relationship.
Frequently asked questions
Are self pay services the same as pharmaceutical services?
No. Pharmaceutical services (pDL) are financed from their own pay pot and are regulated by law. Self pay services, by contrast, are paid by the customer privately and without any insurance involvement. Both offerings can exist side by side, but they must always be communicated and billed cleanly apart to avoid misunderstandings.
May pharmacy technicians (PTA) carry out self pay blood draws?
The venous blood draw is reserved under the ApoVWG for licensed pharmacists after doctor-led training. Pharmacy technicians (PTA) are not provided for as things stand. Capillary measurements are already possible today. The specific split of tasks in the team follows the type of service and the applicable rules.
Do I have to state a fixed price for self pay services?
Yes, price transparency is central. The total price should be named clearly before the service and recorded in writing, along with the scope and content. That way customers know exactly what they receive and pay. It builds trust and prevents disputes about extra costs afterwards.
May I advertise that a check prevents illness?
No. The Heilmittelwerbegesetz prohibits promises of cure and guarantees of success. What is permitted is the factual information that a check delivers orienting values which are to be interpreted in the medical context. A single blood value is not a diagnosis. Neutral, verifiable wording is legally safe and reads as more credible.
Does self pay diagnostics replace a visit to the doctor?
No. Diagnostics in the pharmacy delivers orienting values and a reason for interpretation, but it replaces no medical diagnosis or treatment. Unusual results belong in the medical context. Communicate this limit actively, it protects your customers and at the same time strengthens the professional credibility of your offering.
Terms explained quickly
- Self pay service is a health service paid for privately and without cost coverage by statutory health insurance.
- IGeL stands for individual health service, a term familiar from the doctor's practice for services outside the statutory insurance catalogue that insured people pay for themselves.
- Pharmaceutical service (pDL) is a pharmacy service regulated by law and financed from its own pay pot, not as a self pay service.
- Heilmittelwerbegesetz (HWG) is the act that governs advertising for health services and prohibits promises of cure as well as misleading claims.
- ApoVWG is the Apothekenversorgung-Weiterentwicklungsgesetz, which among other things allows trained pharmacists to carry out the venous blood draw, and has been in force since 2 July 2026.
Sources
For pharmacies
Aniva provides the complete blood diagnostics infrastructure for the local pharmacy, including the lab, the result, the app report and the logistics. Learn more at Aniva for pharmacies and on the page for pharmacy diagnostics.
As of 4 August 2026. Aniva Health editorial team, no warranty. This article is not legal advice. Please check with your state pharmacists' chamber before you start.
