Starting a practice in Austria: roadmap and checklist for your first year

The roadmap: from decision to opening

How long it takes to start a practice depends mainly on your profession, the insurance-contract question and the premises. Six to twelve months is realistic, often longer with a contract position. This order has proven itself:

Professional licence and registration

Practising medicine, psychotherapy and the psychological profession, as well as the MTD professions (medical-technical services), are exempt from the Gewerbeordnung (Trade Regulation Act) (§ 2 Abs. 1 Z 11 GewO). So you need no trade licence. Instead, the law governing your profession sets out where you must be registered, what you must report and the minimum cover of your professional liability insurance:

If you are already registered, for example from your hospital job or employment, you mainly notify the new Berufssitz. Physiotherapists who were previously employed are registered via the Arbeiterkammer (Chamber of Labour); if you will now work mainly self-employed, the GÖG is responsible. Registration is free, and with the provisional confirmation you may start working before your professional ID card arrives by post. For the professional lists kept by the Ministry of Health, allow a few weeks of processing time.

You will find the details for your profession in the dedicated guides: becoming a Wahlarzt in Austria, self-employed as a physiotherapist, opening a psychology practice and opening a psychotherapy practice.

Contract or elective practice: the question with the longest lead time

The insurance-contract question decides your timeline. Without a Kassenvertrag, you can start as soon as registration, liability insurance and premises are in place. With one, you depend on advertised positions and deadlines.

• Doctors: contract positions are advertised by the regional Ärztekammer together with the ÖGK (Austrian Health Insurance Fund). You apply within the deadline, then applicants are ranked by fixed criteria. It often takes several months until the contract starts. As a Wahlarzt, you need no contract; your patients are reimbursed 80 % of the insurance fund’s tariff. Since 1 January 2026, Wahlärzte generally have to use the e-card system too.
• Physiotherapists: contracts with the insurance funds are scarce in many regions. Most start as Wahltherapeut: patients submit your invoice together with the doctor’s prescription to their insurance fund for reimbursement.
• Psychotherapists and clinical psychologists: places funded by the insurance funds are available via care associations (Versorgungsvereine) and contracts with limited quotas. Without a contract, patients receive a cost subsidy. Clinical-psychological treatment has been covered by the insurance funds since 26 January 2026.

Insurance and social insurance

• Professional liability insurance: mandatory for all three professional groups before you work on a self-employed basis (for minimum cover, see the table). Chambers and professional associations often offer group contracts.
• Doctors: under the FSVG (Freiberuflich Selbständigen-Sozialversicherungsgesetz, social insurance act for liberal professions), income from the practice is covered for pension and accident insurance with the SVS (social insurance for the self-employed), but not for health insurance. You arrange health insurance yourself, e.g. via your Ärztekammer’s group insurance, privately or through self-insurance. For retirement provision, there is also the Wohlfahrtsfonds (welfare fund) of your regional medical chamber.
• Physiotherapists, psychologists and psychotherapists are usually covered for health, pension and accident insurance with the SVS as Neue Selbständige (“new self-employed”). You register yourself, within one month of starting your activity. If your annual income stays below the insurance threshold (2026: €6,613.20), you are not compulsorily insured for health and pension insurance, but you can insure yourself voluntarily.
• Plan for back payments: the SVS first charges provisional contributions and adjusts them after your tax assessment. Put money aside for this in your first year.
• Worth considering: business interruption, contents and legal expenses insurance, as well as cover for occupational disability. Get independent advice.

Tax office and taxes

Notify the Finanzamt (tax office) within one month that you have started your activity (§§ 120, 121 BAO), most easily via FinanzOnline with the questionnaire for sole traders. Your income from the practice counts as income from self-employment.

Medical treatments by doctors, psychotherapists and MTD professions are exempt from VAT (§ 6 Abs. 1 Z 19 UStG). According to the VAT guidelines (Umsatzsteuerrichtlinien), the same applies to therapeutic services by clinical and health psychologists. The flip side: you generally cannot deduct input VAT on your purchases. So always calculate quotes for equipment, alterations and your website including VAT.

Premises, permitted use and accessibility

The location helps decide your success: can the practice be reached by public transport, is there parking, a lift, step-free access? For psychotherapy, discretion and soundproofing matter; for physiotherapy, space, showers and sturdy floors; for medical practices, a waiting area, hygiene and short distances.

• Use permitted? Before signing, check whether the premises may be used as a practice. In buildings with owner-occupied flats, changing the designated use generally requires the consent of all other owners, which only a court can replace if they refuse (§ 16 Abs. 2 WEG). Whether you need a building permit or a notification is governed by the building code of your federal state.
• Accessibility: under the Bundes-Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz (Federal Disability Equality Act), physical barriers can amount to indirect discrimination unless removing them would be disproportionate (§ 6 BGStG). Those affected can then claim damages. When looking for premises, plan for step-free access, sufficiently wide doors and an accessible toilet.
• Alterations: have the lease explicitly allow alterations, signage and use as a practice, as well as a waiver of termination that matches your financing.

Data protection and records from day one

Health data enjoys special protection under the GDPR (Art. 9 GDPR). This affects your patient files, appointment booking, emails and website. These basics should be in place before the first appointment:

• Record of processing activities (Art. 30 GDPR): if you process health data, you need one even as a solo practice.
• Contracts with service providers (Art. 28 GDPR): for practice software, online appointment booking, hosting and IT support.
• Documentation: the law governing your profession specifies what you must record. Doctors keep their records for at least ten years (§ 51 Abs. 3 ÄrzteG).
• Secure communication: don’t send medical reports by unencrypted email, and protect access to your systems with passwords and two-factor authentication.
• Website: a privacy policy, minimal cookies and a secure contact form. Questions are answered by the Datenschutzbehörde (DSB, Austrian Data Protection Authority).

Visible online – even before opening

Most patients look for their practice online today. If you only think about the website on opening day, you give away weeks. So plan early:

• Domain and email: secure a short domain that is easy to spell and use an address such as ordination@ihre-praxis.at instead of a free one.
• Website: what it needs is covered in 12 things patients look for on your website; what it costs, in the cost comparison.
• Impressum and mandatory information: required from day one and different for each profession – for doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and psychotherapists. The legal notice generator helps with the text.
• Advertising: what you may promise on your website is governed by your professional law – more in the posts on advertising for doctors, physiotherapy, psychology and psychotherapy.
• Google profile: create and verify it as soon as your address is fixed – instructions in the post on the Google profile.

The checklist to tick off