*Source: https://www.years.co/en/praeventivmedizin* Preventive medicine # A check-up every three years is a start, not a plan. What statutory prevention covers is more than many assume and less than a complete status. The four levels of prevention, the German statutory programmes at a glance, and where one diagnostic day in one place genuinely contributes something. Free intro call Book an appointment - What statutory insurance pays - What it does not pay - The risks of screening too - One diagnostic day in Berlin In brief ## What preventive medicine is and what it delivers Preventive medicine is intended to prevent disease or detect it early, rather than treat it once it causes symptoms. It works on three levels: primary prevention acts before a condition arises, through blood pressure, lipids, exercise, smoking cessation and vaccination. Secondary prevention finds a condition at a symptom-free stage, the field of early detection. Tertiary prevention prevents progression and relapse. In Germany a substantial part of this is standard care with clear specifications from the Federal Joint Committee, from the health check-up at 35 to low-dose CT for the lung cancer risk group. Everything beyond that is self-pay with widely varying evidential strength, and that line does not run where the market draws it. At a glance Levels Primary, secondary, tertiary — plus quaternary against overtreatment Standard care Health check-up from 35, six screening programmes Strongest factors Not smoking, aerobic fitness, blood pressure and lipids, sleep At YEARS from €1,990 (Core), one diagnostic day in Berlin What we do not do No infusion therapies, no supplement sales, no substitute for screening Classification Every procedure assigned to one of three evidence tiers Timing ## Four kinds of prevention — and when each one counts. The classification sounds academic but decides what a procedure can deliver at all. Screening at one level answers no question from another. ### Primary prevention Before the condition Blood pressure lowering, lipid management, endurance training, smoking cessation, vaccination, weight management This is where most of the achievable effect sits. Costs little, requires consistency rather than technology. ### Secondary prevention Condition present, no symptoms Colonoscopy, mammography, skin cancer screening, blood pressure and lipid measurement, low-dose CT in risk groups The field where guideline-based early detection sits. Also the field where overdiagnosis arises. ### Tertiary prevention In existing disease Rehabilitation after a heart attack, relapse prophylaxis, secondary prophylaxis with statins and antihypertensives Belongs in treating care, not in a screening programme. ### Quaternary prevention Against medicine itself Declining diagnostics without consequence, avoiding overtreatment, informing about overdiagnosis The level most often missing in the self-pay market. We address it because otherwise nobody does. Anyone assessing a screening examination should first ask which level it works on. A whole-body MRI is secondary prevention and replaces no primary prevention: someone who smokes and has an untreated blood pressure of 160 gains less from imaging than from two medications and quitting. Free for you ## What your statutory insurance already pays for. More than many assume. These programmes are decided by the Federal Joint Committee, the body of insurers, physicians and hospitals that determines what statutory insurance pays for. Only what demonstrably reduces illness or mortality gets included. Free for you. Service | For whom | Interval | Health check-up | From age 35 | Every three years; once between 18 and 34 | Skin cancer screening | From age 35 | Every two years | Bowel cancer screening | Women and men from 50 | Colonoscopy twice, ten years apart, or a stool test every two years. For women from 50 instead of 55 since 1 April 2025 | Mammography screening | Women from 50 to 75 | Every two years. Invitations to 69, self-registration from 70 — upper limit raised from 69 to 75 in July 2024 | Cervical cancer screening | From age 20; from 35 with HPV test | Annually; from 35 every three years as a combination | Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening | Men from age 65 | Once, by ultrasound | Lung cancer screening | Current and former heavy smokers aged 50 to 75, from 15 pack-years | Low-dose CT every twelve months. Standard care since 1 April 2026 | Prostate examination | Men from age 45 | Annually, physical examination | Breast examination | Women from age 30 | Annually, clinical breast examination plus guidance on self-examination | Health check-up For whom From age 35 Interval Every three years; once between 18 and 34 Skin cancer screening For whom From age 35 Interval Every two years Bowel cancer screening For whom Women and men from 50 Interval Colonoscopy twice, ten years apart, or a stool test every two years. For women from 50 instead of 55 since 1 April 2025 Mammography screening For whom Women from 50 to 75 Interval Every two years. Invitations to 69, self-registration from 70 — upper limit raised from 69 to 75 in July 2024 Cervical cancer screening For whom From age 20; from 35 with HPV test Interval Annually; from 35 every three years as a combination Abdominal aortic aneurysm screening For whom Men from age 65 Interval Once, by ultrasound Lung cancer screening For whom Current and former heavy smokers aged 50 to 75, from 15 pack-years Interval Low-dose CT every twelve months. Standard care since 1 April 2026 Prostate examination For whom Men from age 45 Interval Annually, physical examination Breast examination For whom Women from age 30 Interval Annually, clinical breast examination plus guidance on self-examination Not included are imaging without indication, ApoB and Lp(a), hormone panels, inflammatory markers, exercise testing with directly measured VO2max, and all genetic procedures without a concrete medical indication. That is exactly where a self-pay check-up begins — and exactly where evidential strength is heterogeneous. With a family history, screening starts earlier, and statutory insurance usually pays for it. Anyone whose parent, sibling or child had bowel cancer should, according to the guideline, have a first colonoscopy ten years before that relative was diagnosed, and by 40 at the latest. What insurance covers with a family history Authoritative sources: G-BA: health check-up · G-BA: cancer screening · KBV: lung cancer screening The order ## Four factors, before any technology is added. Ordered by evidence, not by effort. Anyone with something open here gains more from that than from any extended diagnostics. ### Not smoking The single factor with the largest effect on remaining life expectancy, by a wide margin. No procedure and no preparation compensates for it. ### Aerobic fitness Cardiorespiratory fitness is among the strongest predictors of life expectancy. Measurable as VO2max, changeable through training, not through diagnostics. ### Blood pressure and lipids Both measurable early, both acting across decades, both treatable with well-studied medications. ApoB and Lp(a) sharpen the picture beyond LDL. ### Sleep regularity Not only duration but regularity. The weakest evidence base of the four, and still better than that of any supplement. This order is why we sell no programme without raising it first. A check-up that documents an untreated blood pressure and then talks about epigenetic clocks has the priorities the wrong way round. In depth: Longevity for beginners — what is evidenced and what is overrated Provider types ## Who offers preventive medicine in Germany. Four types with very different reach. The question is not which is best but which type fits your clinical question. ### Family practice Carries standard care: health check-up, vaccination, blood pressure, lipids, HbA1c, enrolment in the screening programmes. At the expense of statutory insurance. Fits when You are at the entry level. Anyone who does not know their blood pressure, ApoB and HbA1c gains more here than in any clinic. ### Occupational health service Occupational preventive care under German regulations, sometimes with extended offers through workplace health promotion. Free for employees. Fits when Your employer has a service and you want the entry level at no cost to yourself. ### Private preventive centre Bundles laboratory, imaging, functional diagnostics and medical interpretation into one day. Self-pay, billed under the German medical fee schedule. Fits when You have little time, want a complete status and need an assessment afterwards. ### Medical spa and clinic stay A multi-day stay, diagnostics combined with treatment, nutritional medicine and recovery. Fits when You have time for a longer stay and want to combine diagnostics with treatment. ## Who offers preventive medicine in Germany, by name The types above explain the categories. Anyone searching in practice wants names. What stands out is who actually holds this term in Germany: prevention centres run by hospital groups, occupational-medicine providers, and GP practices with a prevention focus. Longevity clinics are the exception here, not the rule. All third-party details come from the providers own websites. Provider | What it is | Locations | What is offered under prevention there | What that means for you | Helios Prevention Center Source : helios-gesundheit.de | Prevention centre of a private hospital group | Berlin, Hamburg, Krefeld, Leipzig, Munich, Wiesbaden | Check-up in a single day of around six hours: history taking, internal and neurological examination, laboratory work from blood, urine and stool, resting and stress ECG, echocardiography, ultrasound of carotids, abdominal organs and thyroid, lung function, vision and hearing tests, body composition, skin examination, and a closing consultation with a personal health plan. A specialist accompanies the day. | Being part of a hospital group means specialist departments for any work-up are in the same building. Anyone looking for a structured day close to home will find it in six cities. Whole-body imaging and molecular procedures are not part of the described scope. | ias PREVENT Source : ias-gruppe.de | Check-up unit of an occupational-health provider | Eight locations across Germany, including Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main and Chemnitz | Check-ups for executives and employees, with an extensive initial consultation by specialists in internal medicine, instrument-based diagnostics and medical evaluation. The group also carries out occupational health screening and aptitude examinations, and cites more than 40 years in prevention. | Access usually runs through the employer rather than privately. Anyone with a corporate offer gets an established structure with a nationwide network. Anyone searching without an employer link is not the core audience. | Vivantes Prevention Center Reinickendorf Source : vivantes.de | Prevention centre of a municipal hospital group | Berlin-Reinickendorf, at the Humboldt-Klinikum | An independent facility since August 2017 within the department for internal medicine, cardiology and conservative intensive care, led by a chief physician. The programme "Ein Tag für Ihre Gesundheit" completes the baseline examination in around six hours. The programme is assembled individually on the basis of current scientific guidelines and personal risk, ending in a written report with recommendations, in another language on request. | The cardiology focus is pronounced, and the hospital behind it is the same advantage as with the private groups. The reasoning is notable: the page explicitly names the federal health ministry recommendations as the minimum and justifies any deviation through individual risk. That is the same logic we apply. | SmartPraxis München Source : smartpraxis.de | GP practice focused on nutritional and preventive medicine | Munich, Ärztehaus Nymphenburg | A basic check-up including the statutory health examination, plus a premium check-up with spirometry and ultrasound of abdominal organs and thyroid. Under preventive medicine the practice also offers micronutrient analysis, metabolic adjustment through micronutrients, vitamin and infusion therapies, travel and diving medicine, and vaccinations. | The GP link is the practical advantage: a low threshold, continuity over years, and the statutory check-up happens in the same place. The diagnostic focus is on laboratory work and micronutrients; whole-body imaging is not part of it. | YEARS | Private preventive medicine clinic | One location, Berlin-Charlottenburg | In Core, 25 functional examinations and 87 laboratory biomarkers in a single day of around six hours. From Evolve, whole-body MRI and liquid biopsy are added and the day runs to around nine to ten hours. Every procedure is publicly assigned to one of three evidence tiers; research-adjacent procedures are documented and on their own trigger no treatment. | One site instead of a network, in exchange for more time per person and an evidence classification you can read back. We do not replace statutory screening; we work within its framework. | Third-party details as published on the providers own websites, as of 17 September 2026. We deliberately do not quote third-party prices: they change constantly, and a comparison page with outdated prices helps nobody. In Berlin ## Preventive medicine in Berlin, and how to recognise quality. YEARS is in Berlin-Charlottenburg on Joachimsthaler Straße, a few minutes from the Kurfürstendamm. The diagnostic day takes around six hours, everything in house, no separate MRI appointment. If you are comparing providers, these are the five questions that make the difference and that can be checked. - 1 Is evidential weight declared openly per procedure, or is everything sold with equal conviction? - 2 Is there a personal medical consultation after the report, and coordination of onward care? - 3 Is it stated that guideline-based early detection is not replaced — colonoscopy, mammography and skin screening remain independently indicated? - 4 Is overdiagnosis and are false positives discussed before the examination, not only afterwards? - 5 A single appointment or a trajectory across the year? One data point says less than a curve. The programme pages: Longevity Berlin at YEARS · Health check Berlin The other side ## Where screening can do harm. This belongs in the consultation before the examination, not in the small print afterwards. ### Overdiagnosis A finding that would never have caused symptoms without the test gets treated. The treatment carries risks, the gain is absent. Particularly relevant for thyroid, prostate and kidney findings. ### False positives An abnormal finding triggers a chain of further investigations, each with its own risk and burden. Often nothing is found at the end — the chain happened anyway. ### False reassurance An unremarkable finding delays the work-up of later symptoms. A whole-body MRI with no abnormality is no guarantee for the years ahead. ### Displaced priorities A programme that discusses epigenetic clocks while blood pressure goes untreated has the order the wrong way round. The harm is the time lost. The question for any procedure is therefore not whether it finds something, but whether the finding triggers an action that improves the course. We declare that chain openly for every procedure in our programmes, including the level at which it breaks off. The complete classification: Evidence and scientific standards How common incidental findings actually are, with study base and confidence interval: Incidental findings in numbers Read on ## Two questions that deserve their own pages. Because they are the ones most often conflated in the market. A finding that counts ### Prediabetes: what to do now The finding where randomised trials show a structured programme roughly halves the number of new cases. The evidence question ### What prevention can prevent Four disease areas along a five-level ladder: where early detection demonstrably changes the outcome and where the evidence stops before that. The term ### Precision prevention Risk stratification, biomarkers, imaging: what the approach promises, where it sits on the claim ladder today, and who offers it in Germany. The distinction ### Prevention vs. longevity Four terms that get muddled: prevention, preventive medicine, longevity, anti-aging. What each is evidenced for, and what not. ## Frequently asked questions about preventive medicine What is preventive medicine? + Preventive medicine is the part of medicine intended to prevent disease or detect it early, rather than treat it once it causes symptoms. It works on three levels. Primary prevention acts before a condition arises, through blood pressure, lipids, exercise, smoking cessation and vaccination. Secondary prevention detects a condition that is already present but not yet causing symptoms, which is the field of early detection. Tertiary prevention prevents progression or relapse in existing disease. In Germany part of this is standard care with clear specifications from the Federal Joint Committee, while the rest is self-pay with widely varying evidential strength. What is the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary prevention? + The point in the course of disease. Primary prevention acts before a condition exists: blood pressure lowering, lipid management, endurance training, smoking cessation, vaccination. Secondary prevention finds a condition at a symptom-free stage, including colonoscopy, mammography, skin cancer screening, and blood pressure and lipid measurement as the uncovering of unnoticed risk. Tertiary prevention prevents progression and relapse in existing disease, such as rehabilitation after a heart attack. Some authors add quaternary prevention: protection against overtreatment and against harm from unnecessary diagnostics. That fourth level is the one most often missing in the self-pay market, and we address it explicitly. What does German statutory insurance cover in prevention? + Considerably more than many assume, and considerably less than a comprehensive check-up covers. The statutory health check-up is available every three years from the age of 35, and once between 18 and 34, with a medical history, physical examination, a small laboratory profile and a urine test. Added to that are skin cancer screening from 35 every two years, colonoscopy or a stool test for women and men from 50, earlier with bowel cancer in close family, mammography screening for women from 50, cervical cancer screening from 20, a single ultrasound for abdominal aortic aneurysm for men from 65, and low-dose CT screening for the defined lung cancer risk group. Not included are imaging without indication, ApoB and Lp(a), hormone panels and exercise testing. Is a family doctor enough for prevention, or do I need a clinic? + For the entry level a family doctor covers more than the market suggests. Blood pressure, lipid profile, HbA1c, kidney function, vaccination status, smoking cessation advice and enrolment in the screening programmes are all covered, usually at the expense of statutory insurance. Anyone with something open here gains more from that than from any extended diagnostics. A preventive centre becomes useful in three situations: a family history with early onset, findings that lifestyle cannot explain, and the wish for a complete status in one day rather than specialist appointments spread over months. That is a question of time and clinical question, not of quality. Is preventive medicine the same as longevity? + No, and conflating the two is the most common source of mistaken expectations. Preventive medicine is an established discipline with guidelines, defined programmes and an evidence base on patient-relevant endpoints. Longevity describes a research and market field that treats ageing itself as a modifiable process. The overlap is large: blood pressure, lipids, fitness and sleep are the best-evidenced factors in both fields. The difference lies at the edges, where longevity uses procedures for which no endpoint data exists, such as epigenetic clocks or whole-body MRI without indication. We use such procedures but declare them explicitly as research-adjacent. Can too much screening do harm? + Yes, and that belongs in the consultation. Three mechanisms. First, overdiagnosis: a finding that would never have caused symptoms without the test gets treated, with all the risks of treatment and no gain. Second, false positives, which trigger a chain of further investigations, each with its own risk, often ending in nothing. Third, false reassurance from an unremarkable result, which delays the work-up of symptoms later. The question for any procedure is therefore not whether it finds something, but whether the finding triggers an action that improves the course. We declare exactly that chain openly for every procedure. ## Also of interest Evidence and standards Three evidence tiers, five claim levels, procedure by procedure Longevity Berlin The YEARS offer: programmes, process, physicians Health check Berlin The check-up as a product, with scope and prices Longevity for beginners What is evidenced, what is overrated, and in what order ## We will tell you whether you need us. In a free intro call we clarify whether extended diagnostics is due in your case or whether the basics deliver more first. Either is a solid answer, and you get it in twenty minutes. Free intro call Book an appointment Medical Disclaimer This information is provided for general education and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please discuss findings and individual medical decisions with a qualified physician. Content is reviewed periodically against the current state of scientific evidence.