Health Hospitals can only survive in the long term with public funding

Swiss hospitals are likely to have accumulated losses of one billion Swiss francs by 2023. The majority will not achieve the necessary margin to finance investments. The majority therefore rely on an implicit state guarantee.

68 percent of the CFOs of 48 hospitals, psychiatric and rehabilitation clinics surveyed stated in a KPMG study that they assume an implicit state guarantee. The "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" first reported on the study on Saturday. It is also available to the Keystone-SDA news agency.

The rule, according to which earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) should be at 10 percent in order to finance investments, was only just achieved by rehabilitation clinics. According to the "Clarity on Healthcare" study by the consulting firm, the figure for the others was 1.8 percent in 2023.

Only 14 of the institutions surveyed reported any profit at all. Extrapolated to the entire hospital landscape, KPMG arrived at a loss of one billion Swiss francs.