Eight out of ten hospitals in Bavaria expect to make losses in 2024. This emerges from a survey by the Bavarian Hospital Society (BKG) among all clinics in Bavaria, which was presented on Thursday. Compared to the forecast that the BKG made a year ago, the clinics were actually doing a little better than expected. Aid funds from the federal government and the Free State to support the hospitals in need have had an impact. The situation is still dramatic because the funds are expiring this year.
“We don’t need relief funds, we’re not supplicants,” said the managing director of the Bavarian Hospital Association, Roland Engehausen. “We provide care for people in Germany and want this service to be sufficiently paid for.” From the BKG’s point of view, that is exactly what is not in sight.
In any case, the hospital reform announced by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) will not save the clinics, said Engehausen. Instead of being paid individually for each treatment, clinics will in future receive part of their money as a fixed budget. The Bavarian Hospital Society has always called for this so-called reserve financing, said Engehausen. However, the law is now so complicated that the majority of the Bavarian clinics surveyed no longer see it as an advantage.
From a financial perspective, the reform also comes too late: a transformation fund has only been announced for 2026 and the reform is not expected to take effect before 2027. “We don’t need a transformation fund that starts in 2026, by then the hospitals will go bankrupt,” said Engehausen.
The Bavarian Hospital Society also sees that the hospital landscape in Bavaria needs to be reorganized. This process has long been in full swing. Smaller clinic locations would merge into larger units or redistribute work. “Such processes don’t happen without pain,” said the BKG chairman and mayor of Marktredwitz in Upper Franconia, Oliver Weigel. You can see citizen protests, for example when clinic locations are closed.
Many hospitals are breaking new ground – such as the Fichtelgebirge Clinic
In his Wunsiedel district, the Fichtelgebirge Clinic is currently taking this approach. The two locations in Marktredwitz and Selb redistributed the work. Inpatient treatment will only take place in Marktredwitz in the future. Selb takes care of all outpatient operations. A new outpatient surgery center and a medical care center with several resident doctors are being built there. The change is an attempt to help the two clinics, which have been making losses for years, out of the loss zone. The Fichtelgebirge Clinic is a positive example – also because the considerations were communicated very openly from the start. In fact, the “future concept” of the Fichtelgebirge Clinic is prominent placed on the clinic’s website.
But problems also remain in the Fichtelgebirge: There is a lack of money to finance the transformation process. The transformation fund set up by the state government only finances initial reports for such changes. No money is currently expected from the federal government. The BKG would like more active support from the Free State here.
Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU) currently sees the federal government as primarily responsible: “Lauterbach continues to ignore the core demand from Bavaria and other states for emergency financial aid for hospitals,” she criticized on Thursday. Numerous hospitals already have their backs against the wall financially because operating costs are overburdening them. The federal government is responsible for this. He needs to remedy this quickly.