Starting Your Own Veterinary Practice in Germany: Requirements, Planning, and Record-Keeping from Day One

Opening your own veterinary practice means you’re transitioning from being a veterinarian to also running a business. Here, we’ll go over the professional requirements, the regulations governing fees and medications, and how to set up record-keeping and systems so that your new practice is up and running as soon as the first pet owners arrive.

Licensing and the Veterinary Board

According to Section 2 of the German Veterinary Practice Act (Bundes-Tierärzteordnung, BTÄO), a veterinary license (Approbation) is required to practice veterinary medicine in Germany. The law also allows for temporary practice of the profession with a special permit.

Membership in the veterinary association is governed by each state’s own law on professional associations for the health care professions. In Baden-Württemberg, for example, every licensed veterinarian automatically becomes a member of the state’s Veterinary Association when they begin working there and is required to register with the association, according to the state’s administrative portal, service-bw. Check the regulations in the state where your practice will be located.

Fees in accordance with the fee schedule

According to Section 1 of the German Fee Schedule for Veterinarians (Gebührenordnung für Tierärzte, GOT), the fees for professional veterinary services are determined by the regulation, even when the services are provided by a company. The fees listed in the fee schedule are set at the basic rate, and lower fees may only be agreed upon or charged in the cases listed in Section 5 of the regulation.

When drawing up the price list, it’s a good idea to also decide how billing will work on a day-to-day basis, so that nothing done during the visit is left off the invoice.

Over-the-Counter Drug Sales in Practice

According to Section 79 of the German Veterinary Medicines Act (Tierarzneimittelgesetz, TAMG), the operation of a veterinary in-house pharmacy must be reported to the competent authority in the federal state where it is located before operations begin. According to Section 3 of the Regulation on Veterinarians’ In-House Pharmacies (Tierärztliche Hausapothekenverordnung, TÄHAV), the veterinarian who submitted the notification is responsible for ensuring that the in-house pharmacy is operated correctly.

Plan the startup in the correct order

The facility and equipment often take up the most time and money, but the systems determine how the workday runs. Decide early on which practice management system your practice will use, since appointments, patient records, and invoices are all managed there. We go over what a practice management system for veterinarians needs to be able to do in our article on practice management systems for veterinarians.

Once the medical record system has been selected, it’s time to decide how the records will be written. A small practice rarely has someone who writes notes for the veterinarian, so record-keeping often ends up being done in the evenings if it isn’t done during or immediately after the visit.

Data Protection from the First Pet Owner

As soon as the first pet owner books an appointment, the veterinary practice processes personal data and is responsible for it under the GDPR. This applies to both the medical records system and the tools linked to it. The article on AI and the GDPR for veterinarians outlines what the practice should keep in mind. Ask each vendor where the data is stored, which subprocessors are used, and how long the data is retained.

Record-Keeping with Vetz in a New Internship

Vetz listens during the conversation with the pet owner and creates a structured draft medical record that you review, edit, and sign. With active integration, appointments are automatically displayed in Vetz, and the completed medical record is sent back to the medical record system. Vetz integrates with Provet Cloud, Vettigo, and MHK FileMaker; for other systems, you can ask Vetz whether your system is already supported or if an integration can be developed. Learn more about how Vetz integrates with medical record systems and about AI-powered medical record keeping.

For a small practice, what happens after the medical record is created is just as important. From the same note, Vetz can generate personalized discharge instructions for the pet owner and suggest what should be billed based on the medical record’s content, which reduces the risk of missed billing. How the billing support works is described on the page about billing for veterinary clinics.

Vetz can mirror your practice’s own record templates, ensuring that records follow the same structure from day one—even as your team grows. You log in via your web browser with no installation required, and you can try Vetz for free for 14 days without providing credit card information.

Learn more about Vetz

Are you planning to open your own practice and want to see how record-keeping can work starting with your first patient? Book a demo, and we’ll show you how Vetz works with the templates and medical record system of your choice.