Austria’s Health System Overview
Health System Rankings
Health System Outcomes
Health System Coverage
Costs for Consumers
Health System Expenditures
Austria’s COVID-19 National Policy
“There are several challenges that continue to be addressed in the years ahead. The Austrian health system is among the most expensive in the EU. A large and increasing share of government spending is dedicated to health (15.6%), which is expected to increase further over the coming decades as a result of population ageing. At the same time, the Austrian health system is characterized by a complex structure with shared governance between the federal and the regional levels and many responsibilities delegated to self-governing bodies (of social insurance and providers), which ultimately results in fragmentation and inefficiencies. In particular, responsibilities for financing and service provision are split between federal and Länder governments for inpatient care and SHI [Social Health Insurance] for ambulatory (extramural) care. There is also fragmentation between the health care and the long-term care sectors, where an integrated vision is still needed.”
Source: Bachner F, Bobek J, Habimana K, Ladurner J, Lepuschütz L, Ostermann H, Rainer L, Schmidt A E, Zuba M, Quentin W, Winkelmann J. Austria: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2018; 20(3): 1 – 256.
“Efforts have been made for several years to achieve more joint planning, governance, and financing, by bringing together the federal and the Länder level and coordinating these with SHI funds. The establishment of state health funds (Landesgesundheitsfonds, LGF) that pool resources for the financing of hospital care at the Länder level in 2005 has contributed to more coordination in the financing of hospital care. More recently in 2013, the introduction of the B-ZK and nine State Target-Based Governance Commissions (Landes-Zielsteuerungskommissionen), bringing together representatives of the three major public financing agents (federal government, state governments and SHI funds), has improved coordination and governance of the health system (see section 6.1.2). In addition, joint planning of health care (see section 2.5) through structural plans for health care is becoming increasingly important and is starting to overcome its traditional focus on (specialized) hospital care by including also ambulatory (extramural) care planning.
“However, despite the establishment of joint governance and planning mechanisms, the constitutional decision-making powers of the various players have remained essentially unchanged. As a result, coordination continues to be a challenge – not only with regard to the provision of inpatient and ambulatory (extramural) care but also with regard to rehabilitation and long-term care (LTC) (see sections 5.7 and 5.8).”
Source: Bachner F, Bobek J, Habimana K, Ladurner J, Lepuschütz L, Ostermann H, Rainer L, Schmidt A E, Zuba M, Quentin W, Winkelmann J. Austria: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2018; 20(3): 1 – 256.
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Page last updated Oct. 23, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.
