Health care services in Estonia: the activity licence

Family medical care, specialised medical care, ambulance care and several kinds of care provided independently (nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, speech therapy, psychological treatment) may be provided in Estonia only with an activity licence issued by the Health Board⁵⁷. The licence is given for a named place of activity, after the Health Board has checked the staff, premises, equipment and IT readiness against the requirements set under the Health Services Organisation Act⁵¹⁹.

Information as of 11 November 2026. Every numbered statement of this page was checked in the official text named below and re-checked by a second reviewer on 2026-11-11. The page is general information, not legal advice; the authority decides on every application.

What the activity is

A health service is the activity of a health care professional to prevent, diagnose and treat a disease, injury or poisoning¹. Health care professionals are doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives registered with the Health Board; physiotherapists, clinical psychologists and speech therapists are treated as equal to them². A health care provider is a health care professional or a legal person providing health services³.

Specialised medical care is provided by a medical specialist or a dentist together with other health care professionals⁴.

Not covered: pharmacy services, which pharmacists provide under the Medicinal Products Act², and activities outside the fields listed in section 2.

The legal act and the authority

The act is the Health Services Organisation Act (tervishoiuteenuste korraldamise seadus, TTKS), version in force from 1 October 2026. It requires an activity licence for these fields⁵:

family medical care on the basis of a family doctor's practice list;
ambulance care;
specialised medical care;
independent nursing care;
independent midwifery care;
independent physiotherapy for treatment;
independent speech therapy;
independent psychological treatment.

The general rules on activity licences come from the General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act (majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus, MSÜS)⁶. The authority that decides on the application and supervises providers is the Health Board (Terviseamet)⁷⁸.

There is no longer a separate national register of health care activity licences: that section (§ 50¹) was repealed on 27 June 2022⁹. Licence and procedure data are kept in the health care organisation information system (tervishoiukorralduse infosüsteem), controlled and published by the Health Board¹⁰.

Who must apply

Anyone who provides a service in one of the eight fields listed above needs the licence before starting⁵⁶. The act also limits who may hold each licence:

outpatient specialised medical care: a company, a sole proprietor or a foundation¹¹;
a hospital: only a public limited company (AS) or a foundation¹²; a nursing hospital: the same¹³;
an ambulance crew: a company, a sole proprietor, a foundation or a state or local government agency¹⁴;
family doctors: as a sole proprietor or through a company that provides family medical care¹⁵;
independent nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, speech therapy and psychological treatment: a company, a foundation or a sole proprietor¹³¹⁶.

A family medical care company, an ambulance company and a hospital each have a closed list of permitted activities¹⁵¹⁴¹².

Main exemptions the act itself names:

a person qualified in another European Economic Area state or in Switzerland may provide health services in Estonia temporarily without the registration and without the activity licence¹⁷;
in a state of emergency or war, no licence is needed to continue providing health services; providing them at another place requires notice to and the consent of the Health Board¹⁸;
the legal-form rule for independent nursing does not apply to certain social service providers giving home nursing¹³.

Requirements for the applicant

The licence is granted when the requirements are met; depending on the field, they cover¹⁹:

Staff: the staff composition for specialised medical care and independent nursing; the competence of the midwife, nurse, physiotherapist, speech therapist or clinical psychologist; for ambulance care, the crew's composition and equipment. A health care professional works only within the speciality in which they are registered². Employees named in the application must be in the Tax and Customs Board's employment register²⁰.
Premises, furnishings and equipment: these must meet the regulations of the minister responsible for the field issued under the act²¹; the Health Board names the regulation for each field on its licensing page²⁰. The Health Board's page also sets a requirement on the registered use of the building²⁰.
Place of activity: the licence gives the right to provide services only at the place of activity stated in it⁵; a new place of activity needs a new licence, not an amendment²⁰.
IT readiness: the applicant's IT readiness must meet the requirements for data exchange with the health information system¹⁹; the Health Board requires a connection contract with the health information system to be signed before the application²⁰.
Liability insurance: the provider must meet the Health Care Provider's Compulsory Liability Insurance Act; the obligation is a secondary condition of the licence, and services may start no earlier than the start of the insurance period, or the later time entered in the health care organisation information system²².
Reporting: a licence holder must prepare health statistics and health-economics reports²³.

Whether capital, own-funds or anti-money-laundering requirements apply is specified for the client's situation. A hospital in the hospital network plan receives a licence only for the type of hospital confirmed for it in the plan⁵.

Documents filed with the application

The application is filed in the Health Board's self-service environment medre.tehik.ee²⁰. Besides the general data under the MSÜS²⁴, the act requires, among other items²⁵:

For all applicants: the list of health services applied for; the medical-technology part of the premises project.
Staff: the written consent of the health care professionals.
Other items: further items that depend on the field (for example for ambulance care or a hospital) are specified for the client's situation.

The Health Board also asks for proof of the right to use the premises and a floor plan showing room numbers and sizes, the location of doors and windows, and the placement of the sink and other essential fittings²⁰.

State fee and processing time

The state fee under the State Fees Act (riigilõivuseadus) § 287 is²⁶:

family medical care: EUR 290 per place of activity;
specialised medical care in a hospital: EUR 950 (local hospital), EUR 1,140 (general hospital), EUR 1,330 (central hospital), EUR 1,900 (regional hospital);
the fee for each other field is set in the same section and is specified for the client's situation.

The fee is paid before the application is filed²⁰.

The Health Board grants or refuses the licence within 60 days of the application²⁷; its page says the 60 days run from receipt of all required data and the procedure is suspended while requested information is awaited²⁰. Under the MSÜS, the authority may require additional data needed to check the requirements and set a reasonable deadline for them²⁸. These time limits are the law's and the authority's; they are not a promise of a decision or of a date.

What LexorCorp Global OÜ does and how to order

The site has no fixed price row for this licence. It is handled as an activity licence application: LexorCorp Global OÜ sets out the requirements of the act for the client's field from its official text, prepares the application documents, and handles the submission and the written follow-up of the Health Board's questions. The time frame is agreed with the client, and the client pays the state fee.

The client provides the premises, the registered staff, the health information system contract and the insurance. LexorCorp Global OÜ gives no legal, tax or medical advice, carries out no audit and cannot promise the licence, a date or the Health Board's decision.

The price is given on request: see licensed activities in Estonia and request a price there; we reply by email.

Sources

TTKS § 2(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 3(1),(2),(4),(5),(6); § 27(2) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 4(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 20(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 40(1)-(3) — text in force from 01.10.2026
MSÜS § 16(1) — text in force from 01.09.2025
TTKS § 41(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 60(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 50¹ — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 26⁴(3) p 5, (6), (9) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 21(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 22(2),(3) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 25¹(2); § 25(1),(1¹) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 18(1),(2) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 12; § 14(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 26²(1); § 23²(1); § 23⁵(1); § 23⁸(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 33 — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 42²(2),(3) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 42 — text in force from 01.10.2026
Terviseamet, Tegevusload tervishoiuteenuse osutamiseks — text in force from page updated 03.07.2026
TTKS § 10(1); § 21(2); § 22(4); § 25(2); § 25¹(4); § 26²(4); § 23²(3) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 4⁴; § 42¹(1) p 3, (2) — text in force from 01.10.2026
TTKS § 47 — text in force from 01.10.2026
MSÜS § 19(2) p 1; § 15(1) — text in force from 01.09.2025
TTKS § 41(2) — text in force from 01.10.2026
Riigilõivuseadus § 287(1)-(5) — text in force from 01.11.2026
TTKS § 41(1) — text in force from 01.10.2026
MSÜS § 19(6) — text in force from 01.09.2025

Official sources

The laws this article names, each linked to its official text, as read on 9 October 2026. For the Estonian acts we read the English translation in Riigi Teataja; the legally binding text is the Estonian one.

State Fees Act — Riigi Teataja, English translation

Sources in the text are named without links; the official texts are linked under Official sources. To see which of our services your company needs, open the Business Navigator.