Healthcare Bern's government disagrees with the auditors on Zweisimmen hospital

The Bernese Audit Office has published its report on the transfer of Zweisimmen Hospital from Spital STS AG to Medaxo AG. It comes to the conclusion that this is inadmissible. The Bernese cantonal government disagrees.

In its report published on Thursday, the Audit Office recommends that the cantonal government suspend the transfer of the Zweisimmen hospital site from Spital Simmental-Thun-Saanenland (STS) AG to Medaxo for the time being under the given circumstances.

According to the partially redacted report, the government council's actions constitute in particular a circumvention of the financial powers of the Grand Council and also violate the applicable public-corporate governance requirements.

The auditors also wrote that the loans and guarantees promised to Medaxo by the canton were not legally possible at the present time. It also considers the sustainability of the future operation of Zweisimmen Hospital promised by Medaxo to be "very critical".

The government council had also informed the public too early. "It is to be feared that this has further encouraged uncertainty among hospital staff and residents of the Simmental-Saanenland region."

The audit recommends that the cantonal Health, Social Affairs and Integration Directorate (GSI) do everything possible together with STS AG as quickly as possible to ensure the continued operation of Zweisimmen Hospital at least for the coming winter.

The GSI headed by Director Pierre Alain Schnegg (SVP) went public on March 21 with its plan for Zweisimmen Hospital to be run by Medaxo in future. STS AG was instructed to transfer the hospital to Medaxo at a value of one franc and a financial contribution of five million francs.

"Pure conjecture" according to the cantonal government

The cantonal government wrote on Thursday that it did not share the audit's assessment. It made it clear "that the transfer of funds from STS AG to Medaxo AG would not have been inadmissible."

He had not circumvented the financial powers of the Grand Council. The Medaxo Group project had been discussed several times. Further information on the Medaxo project was not yet available when the bill was passed by the Grand Council. "As you know, the Grand Council approved the business in the 2024 summer session with conditions. It is therefore not true that the responsible authorities were bypassed."

The cantonal government also expressed its regret that the financial auditors had not been informed about Medaxo's business model. "This is therefore pure conjecture," it continued. From today's perspective, the sustainability of the Medaxo project cannot be called into question.

The Board of Directors of STS AG was also reappointed on Wednesday. According to the cantonal government, it expects the new board to immediately take on the task of securing healthcare provision in Obersimmental and Saanenland. STS AG should examine both the provision of care for the region using its own resources and the delegation of tasks to a partner.

Finance Commission also disagrees with the Government Council

The Finance Commission of the Grand Council announced on Thursday that it shared the assessment of the Audit Office. Based on the information available, it is certain that the Government Council's financial authority would have been exceeded in the course of the transfer of Zweisimmen Hospital to Medaxo.

The transfer of cantonal funds to a private sponsor constituted a circumvention of the Grand Council. Compliance with the applicable spending powers and the cantonal public corporation powers and the cantonal public governance guidelines should be given the necessary attention.

After the cantonal government spoke out against STS AG in March, its CEO immediately resigned. At the beginning of June, STS AG announced that the transfer of the hospital was not lawful according to financial control and that it would therefore not approve it after all. This caused displeasure in the affected municipalities. They felt that the inpatient hospital services in Zweisimmen were at risk.

At the beginning of this week, it was announced that 6 out of 7 members of the Board of Directors of STS AG would not be standing for re-election.

Medaxo, in turn, hit the headlines at the beginning of June because it had dismissed its medical director. The latter had allegedly claimed to be a professor without having the necessary qualifications.