Hospital Beds Per 1,000 Population (2017): 7.37
Nurse-To-Hospital-Bed Ratio (FTE) (2017): 0.79
Doctors Consultations (In All Settings) (Number Per Capita) (2017): 6.5
Hospital Average Length of Stay (All Causes) (2017): 8.3
Computed Tomography Scanners (Per Million Population) (2017): 28.64
Magnetic Imaging Resonance Units (Per Million Population) (2017): 22.96
Mammographs (Per Million Population) (2017): 21.82
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed April 22, 2022.
“The provision of health services in Austria is characterised by free choice of provider and unrestricted access to all levels of care (GPs, specialists and hospitals). Austria has a very large hospital inpatient sector, with 7.2 hospital beds per 1,000 population in 2019 – a ratio that is the third highest in the EU after Germany and Bulgaria, and well above the EU average of 5.3 beds per 1,000 population. Taken together, this helps to explain why hospital discharge rates and inpatient care expenditure in Austria are among the highest in the EU.”
Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2021), Austria: Country Health Profile 2021, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.
“In 2016, Austria had 273 hospitals with 64 838 beds, of which 162 were acute care hospitals (48 816 beds). Nearly 93% of all acute care beds were located in funds hospitals (financed via the state health funds, LGF), accounting for about 95% of all acute care admissions. In addition, there are 83 rehabilitation and 28 long-term care hospitals (see Table 4.2). More than 900 outpatient clinics are also classified as hospitals according to the Federal Hospital Act (Krankenanstalten- und Kuranstaltengesetz, KAKuG, 1957) but they only offer ambulatory (extramural) care.
“Austria has a very large hospital sector despite different reform initiatives that have aimed to reduce the number of hospitals and hospital beds. In 2014, the bed-per-population ratio in Austria (5.84 acute care beds per 1000 population) –was among the third highest (after Germany and Bulgaria) in the EU (EU average 3.94) (see Figure 4.2). Between 2007 and 2016, the number of acute care beds in funds hospitals declined by about 8%. This reduction is very moderate compared to other European countries like Finland, Denmark or Italy (WHO, 2017d) due to missing incentives to treat patients in ambulatory setting and the high level of fragmentation between the ambulatory and inpatient sector. The reform agenda 2017–2021 foresees to further reduce the number of hospital beds in the coming years (see section 6.1.4).”
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.
“The Austrian Structural Plan for Healthcare (Österreichischer Strukturplan Gesundheit) (GÖG, 2017e) and the Regional Structural Plans for Healthcare (Regionale Strukturpläne Gesundheit) (GÖG, 2017d) define the number of major medical equipment in both sectors to ensure equitable distribution across regions, i.e. the Austrian Hospitals and Major Equipment Plan (see section 2.5). Investment in medical equipment is financed separately for the inpatient and the ambulatory sector. The owners of hospitals (i.e. Länder) take financial investment decisions on medical equipment and may receive subsidies from the LGF (see section 2.8.6). Investments in medical equipment in the ambulatory sector are financed by ambulatory providers and later reimbursed by SHI funds via the catalogue of reimbursable services.
“Table 4.4 shows the numbers of medical equipment units per 100 000 population in Austria and EU-15 countries. The number of units of major medical equipment relative to population in Austria is above the EU-15 average. Over the past 10 years (2006–2015) the numbers of major medical equipment remained stable, except for an increase of MRI and PET scanners that is mostly related to the growth of private investments in the ambulatory (extramural) sector (GÖG, 2017c). However, data needs to be interpreted with care, as not all Member States report national medical equipment data to international statistics. The majority of medical equipment in Austria is located in hospitals and is used for inpatient care and care provided by hospital outpatient departments. One exception and in contrast to many other European countries, are mammographs, which are mostly located in ambulatory settings. Data on the utilization of medical equipment is scarce and available only in terms of annual examination rates (per 1 000 inhabitants) in hospitals: 142.2 CT scans, 55.0 MRI scans and 4.1 PET scans per 1 000 inhabitants were performed in hospitals in 2015.”
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 July 18, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.
