Healthcare
Survey: Hospitals with economic problems
Updated on December 27, 2024Reading time: 2 min.
Everything is becoming more expensive – this also affects the healthcare system. Many hospitals are groaning about costs after a survey. Only very few make profits.
According to a survey, the economic situation of German hospitals is worse than it has been in two decades. 61 percent of the houses surveyed said they made losses in 2023, 9 percent reported a balanced result and 30 percent reported a surplus.
This emerges from a survey published in Berlin on behalf of, among others, the German Hospital Association (DKG), which the editorial network Germany had previously reported on. The survey is carried out annually and the values are the worst since 2003. In 64 percent of the houses surveyed, the annual results have recently deteriorated.
From the perspective of the hospitals surveyed, the situation has worsened further in the current year. For 2024, 79 percent expected a negative result, 11 percent expected a balanced result and 10 percent expected a surplus.
According to the survey, price increases in personnel and material costs have a particularly negative impact. The CEO of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß, complained that there was a lack of funding for investments. The inflation rate also has an impact. “Clinics are not allowed to adjust their prices to inflation on their own responsibility, but they have the same increased expenses as all other sectors of the economy.” He warned of negative impacts on supplies.
The German Social Association called the numbers worrying. CEO Michaela Engelmeier praised the recently decided hospital reform as a step in the right direction, but now things have to move on.
The “Hospital Barometer” was created by the German Hospital Institute, which is supported by the DKG, among others. According to the information, the results are based on a representative survey of general hospitals with at least 100 beds, which was carried out between mid-May and mid-August. Accordingly, 366 hospitals took part.