Swiss hospitals fail to achieve margins for sustainable operation
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss hospitals fail to achieve margins for sustainable operation
The majority of Swiss hospitals don't achieve the margins required for sustainable operation. The association H+ Swiss Hospitals is calling for an immediate rethink of healthcare policy in order not to jeopardise medical care.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Schweizer Spitäler erreichen Margen für nachhaltigen Betrieb nicht
Original
EBITDA margins – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation – have fallen massively in recent years, H+ announced on Monday. This was the result of a survey of the key financial figures of around 90% of Swiss hospitals. A margin of 10% is necessary for sustainable hospital operations. However, this figure fell to 2.5% for acute-care hospitals in 2023, it added.
This will have an impact on the hospitals’ equity reserves, which will increasingly have to be used to cover running costs. The reserves of acute-care hospitals have fallen by an average of 5.6% in the last two years and are thus approaching the minimum target value of 30%. This jeopardises long-term investments that are essential for the operation and modernisation of hospitals.
More
More
Healthcare costs: should Swiss hospitals clamp down on expenses?
This content was published on
Many Swiss hospitals are making considerable losses, require millions in aid and have to cut services. Join the discussion on “dialogue”.
The problem lies in the remuneration and tariff system, the report continued. Although hospital revenues are increasing, margins are not improving. In the outpatient sector in particular, the current tariffs do not cover the real costs, the report continued. According to H+, there is a shortfall of 30%. External factors such as inflation and the shortage of specialists are further exacerbating the situation.
In order to ensure the quality of care in the long term, H+ is calling on politicians and health insurers to immediately increase tariffs by 5%. Over the next four years, outpatient tariffs would also have to be gradually increased by 15% in order to cover real costs.
Translated from German by DeepL/jdp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Culture
Wealth is not all: how gentrification in Zurich has led to housing shortage
Iran summons Swiss ambassador over US and Italy arrests
This content was published on
Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents US interests, to protest against the arrest in the US and Italy of two Iranians.
Swisscom receives greenlight for acquisition of Vodafone Italia
This content was published on
The takeover of Vodafone Italia by Swisscom is nearing completion. All relevant authorities have now approved the €8 billion (CHF7.45 billion) deal.
Novo Nordisk stock market plunge drags down Swiss device maker Ypsomed
This content was published on
The Danish pharmaceutical giant, Novo Nordisk, faced setbacks on Friday that weighed on the share price of Swiss injection device manufacturer Ypsomed.
Swiss press react to EU deal with mix of euphoria and scepticism
This content was published on
Swiss media reaction to the agreement between Switzerland and the EU varies widely. Some are celebrating, while others worry about what is to come.
Swiss Solidarity donations to tackle child abuse top CHF4 million
This content was published on
Swiss Solidarity, the humanitarian arm of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), has raised over CHF4 million ($4.3 million) to tackle child abuse.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.