Advertising for doctors in Germany: what the professional code and the HWG allow in your practice, online and on social media

The framework: professional code, HWG and UWG

The starting point is § 27 of the (Muster-)Berufsordnung (MBO-Ä), the model professional code for doctors, currently in the version adopted by the 130th German Medical Assembly in May 2026. The MBO-Ä itself is only a model. What is binding is the professional code of your Landesärztekammer, which usually adopts the section word for word. If in doubt, check there.

• Subsection 1: the purpose is patient protection and avoiding the commercialisation of the medical profession.
• Subsection 2: factual, profession-related information is permitted.
• Subsection 3: advertising that breaches professional rules is prohibited, “in particular promotional, misleading or comparative advertising”. You may neither initiate nor tolerate such advertising by others. Advertising for your own or third-party commercial products is inadmissible.
• Subsections 4 to 6: which qualifications you may announce, and that the chamber can demand proof.

The UWG lever is the most expensive: because the professional code, the HWG and the GOÄ count as rules on market conduct, every breach can be challenged with a cease-and-desist letter under § 3a UWG, including a declaration to cease and desist and legal fees.

The Heilmittelwerbegesetz: the most important sections

The HWG does not only apply to medicines. Under § 1(1)(2), it also covers procedures and treatments where they concern detecting, eliminating or alleviating diseases, and operative plastic-surgical procedures without medical necessity. For your practice advertising, these provisions matter most:

• § 3 – misleading advertising: it is forbidden to attribute effects to a treatment that it does not have, or to create the impression that success is certain. “Pain-free after three sessions” is a classic breach.
• § 7 – gifts and benefits: promotional gifts are only allowed as low-value trifles. Courts have repeatedly ruled against free initial examinations that normally cost money, such as free preliminary examinations for laser eye surgery.
• § 11(1)(11) – statements by third parties: letters of thanks and recommendation are only prohibited if they are abusive, repulsive or misleading. Genuine patient testimonials are therefore possible.
• § 11(1)(13) – prize competitions: competitions and raffles that encourage inappropriate or excessive use are prohibited. A treatment given away in a raffle falls under this.
• § 11(1) sentence 3: for cosmetic procedures, before-and-after comparisons and advertising aimed at children and adolescents are prohibited (more on this below).
• § 12(2) – list of diseases: advertising to lay people for procedures and treatments must not refer to the diseases listed in the annex: notifiable infections, malignant tumours, addictions (except nicotine) and complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Abortions, for example, are exempt. Factual service descriptions such as “skin cancer screening” can usually be worded so that no promise of a cure arises; be particularly careful with ads.

Specialist, sub-specialty, additional qualification, focus area

Under § 27(4) MBO-Ä, you may announce four kinds of information: designations under the Weiterbildungsordnung, other qualifications under public law, focus areas labelled as such, and organisational information.

Items 1 to 3 are only permitted if you practise the activities not just occasionally (subsection 5), and the chamber can demand proof (subsection 6). Self-chosen designations such as “knee pain specialist” or “centre for …” for a small practice are risky: they can be confused with Weiterbildung designations or pretend a size that does not exist.

Prices, IGeL and discounts

You bill private services under the Gebührenordnung für Ärzte (GOÄ), the German fee schedule for doctors. A new GOÄ has been negotiated between the German Medical Association and the association of private health insurers, but as of November 2026 it is not yet in force. Until then the current GOÄ applies, and it sets clear limits for advertising:

• Flat-rate prices and flat-rate discounts (“complete check-up €99”, “20% off all IGeL”) are incompatible with § 5(2) GOÄ, because the fee depends on the difficulty, time required and circumstances of the individual case. Advertising with them is considered a breach of competition law under § 3a UWG.
• For this reason, courts have repeatedly prohibited voucher platforms offering discounted treatments.
• Usually unproblematic is factual cost information, e.g. “Travel medicine consultation: billed under the GOÄ, usually between €30 and €60”, with a note that this is an estimate.
• For IGeL (individual health services that patients pay for themselves) provided to people with statutory insurance, you must inform them in text form about the expected costs before treatment (§ 630c(3) BGB). Sales pressure in the waiting room is problematic under professional law.

Reviews, Jameda and Google

Review portals are part of practice marketing whether you like it or not. The Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice, BGH) has settled the key questions:

• 2014 (VI ZR 358/13): doctors must, as a rule, accept being listed with basic data and rated on a review portal.
• 2016 (VI ZR 34/15): if you object to a review, the portal must look into the case and, for example, ask the reviewer for evidence of the treatment contact.
• 2018 (VI ZR 30/17): Jameda had to delete a doctor’s profile because the portal showed competitors’ ads on the profiles of non-paying doctors and thereby gave up its position as a neutral information intermediary.
• October 2021 (VI ZR 488/19 and VI ZR 489/19): after the model was changed, actions for deletion failed. Paid premium profiles are permissible as long as the portal remains neutral.

For your own advertising: you may show genuine, unchanged reviews (§ 11(1)(11) HWG). Bought or fake reviews are always inadmissible under item 23c of the UWG annex, as is claiming that reviews come from real patients without checking this (item 23b). When replying to criticism, medical confidentiality applies: do not confirm that someone was your patient. How to get more reviews fairly is explained in the post on the Google profile.

Before-and-after photos and cosmetic procedures

Under § 11(1) sentence 3 no. 1 HWG, operative plastic-surgical procedures without medical necessity must not be advertised with comparative depictions of the body before and after the procedure. This applies to your website, Instagram and ads. In July 2025, the Federal Court of Justice extended the ban to hyaluronic acid injections used to reshape the nose or chin (I ZR 170/24). If you offer aesthetic treatments, you should therefore avoid before-and-after comparisons even for “minimally invasive” procedures.

For medically necessary treatments, such as scar revision after an accident or a skin treatment, pictures are not prohibited from the outset. However, they must not be abusive, repulsive or misleading (§ 11(1)(5) HWG), they must show a typical result, and you need the patient’s written consent.

Social media and influencer marketing

On Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn, the same rules apply as on your website. There are also a few typical pitfalls:

• Ban on advertising for third parties: discount codes, affiliate links or paid posts for supplements, cosmetics or medical devices breach § 27(3) MBO-Ä.
• Medicines: advertising prescription medicines to lay people is prohibited (§ 10 HWG). § 11(1)(2) HWG also forbids recommendations by doctors that encourage the use of medicines.
• Labelling: commercial content must be recognisable as such (§ 5a(4) UWG). Paid editorial content without a label is always unfair under item 11 of the UWG annex.
• Patients in the picture: only with written consent, and remember medical confidentiality, even in “harmless” practice stories.
• Giveaways with treatments as prizes are off limits (§ 11(1)(13) HWG).

Google Ads for medical practices

Search advertising is allowed and often the fastest route to appointment requests for new practices. The ad text is subject to § 27 MBO-Ä and the HWG: specialty, service, location and practice name are unproblematic; superlatives (“best orthopaedist in Munich”), guarantees and comparisons are not. Pay particular attention to § 12 HWG if an ad mentions diseases such as cancer or addiction, and to the landing page: it must be factual too. Google also has its own advertising policies for health topics, which can be stricter than the law. How to become visible locally without ads is explained in the post Local SEO.

Agencies, referrals and criminal law

Under § 27(3) MBO-Ä, you may neither initiate nor tolerate advertising by others that breaches professional rules. If an agency writes exaggerated copy or a platform runs sensational ads with your name, you share liability under professional law. So approve every text and have your contract state that nothing is published without your approval.

The rules on referrals are strict: § 31 MBO-Ä forbids demanding, accepting or granting payment or other benefits for referring patients or test material. A member of a healthcare profession who accepts a benefit in return for unfairly favouring someone when directing patients commits an offence under § 299a StGB; whoever grants the benefit does so under § 299b StGB. Both face up to three years in prison. Have platforms that charge per booked appointment checked by your Landesärztekammer in advance.

Quick check for your copy

Physiotherapy, psychology and psychotherapy are partly subject to different rules in Germany; see Advertising for physiotherapists, Advertising for psychologists and Advertising for psychotherapists. What must appear in your practice website’s legal notice is explained in the post Mandatory information on your practice website.