Financial situation and current challenges of Swiss hospitals and clinics

What is the financial situation of Swiss hospitals and clinics, and what are the key issues and trends that hospital management is focusing on?

KPMG conducted an analysis of the annual reports of 48 Swiss hospitals, rehabilitation and psychiatric clinics to explore the financial development of the Swiss healthcare sector in 2023. This perspective was supplemented with a quantitative data collection among CFOs and in-depth qualitative interviews with CEOs to gain insight into the industry's future expectations and key issues at the hospital management level.

Overall, the financial indicators, and particularly the EBITDA margin, developed worse than expected; given the framework conditions KPMG assumes that short-term improvements in EBITDA are unrealistic.

The financial developments and political challenges are leading to a focus among the boards of directors and executive boards of health institutions on key issues such as financing, assessing suitable strategic options regarding their positioning and operational optimizations as well as digitalization and technological deployment to ensure progress.

Clarity on Healthcare

Financial figures of Swiss hospitals and clinics: Snapshot 2024 and Outlook 2025 (PDF in German)

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Key findings

Some of the key takeaways from the study:

Persistent Uncertainty

The 2023 financial statements, with a reduction in the EBITDA margin to 1.8% and partially high reported deficits, are worse than expected.

96% of the CFOs surveyed see no long-term possibility of achieving the 10% EBITDA target, and forecasts are evenly split between optimistic and even more pessimistic expectations for the following year.
Continuing Downward Trend

Losses in the Swiss hospital landscape will continue to increase due to the active investment activities (new buildings, IT systems, etc.), associated depreciation, and rising external capital costs (e.g., for refinancing).
Increased Capital Needs

In the next five years, 86% of the institutions surveyed will rely on equity and debt increases, e.g., for their investment activities.

For this study sample alone, the stated capital requirement amounts to CHF 2.7 billion, extrapolated to the entire industry, resulting in a capital need of CHF 4.5 billion.
Cooperations to Achieve Strategic Goals

According to 79% of the surveyed healthcare providers, collaborations are a crucial option for realizing strategic priorities, especially in the fields of patient care and digitalization.
Changing Healthcare Landscape

Over 90% of the CFOs surveyed see a restructuring of the provider landscape as essential for optimal care in Switzerland, with the greatest change expected in primary care institutions.

A consciously designed hybrid model, consisting of medical centers for specialized treatments and decentralized units for primary care, is a suitable solution approach for an optimal hospital landscape, while simultaneously reducing the number of institutions.
Challenging Digitalization

Due to the demanding financial situations of the service providers, the difficult integration into existing infrastructures, and unresolved legal issues, investments in new IT and digitization projects are resource-intensive and hardly feasible.

Therefore, most healthcare providers are in the early stages of digitalization with much untapped potential.

Clarity on Healthcare

The 2024 KPMG study focuses on the financial situation of Swiss hospitals, rehabilitation clinics and psychiatric clinics and examines current topics and trends in the focus of hospital management.

If you have any questions about the study, please contact Florian Schmid.

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