Waiting times in Vienna’s hospitals are getting longer and longer, and the costs in the health system are exploding. According to the City of Vienna, this is due to so-called “surgery tourists,” i.e. people who undergo surgery in the capital because the care in their own state is not sufficient. City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker is now introducing an upper limit for these surgery tourists.
Over 4 months of waiting time for knee surgery in the Penzing clinic. Even over half a year in the Ordensklinikum Speising. Health Councillor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) has now found someone to blame for the long waiting times in Vienna’s hospitals. “In recent years, the number of patients from other federal states in Vienna’s hospitals has risen sharply,” the “Krone” quoted him as saying.
“Vienna has to bear the costs. It is also unacceptable that Viennese people have to wait forever for urgently needed operations“because 20, 30 or even 40 percent of the waiting lists are guest patients,” says Hacker.
Ludwig backtracks
According to Hacker, this creates a Additional expenditure of one billion euros. Even the compensation payments from the federal states would not compensate for this. The mayor of Vienna is unlikely to be so impressed by his city council’s verbal proposal.
He is trying to calm things down so shortly before the national elections. “No, no one is not accepted in the hospitals”says Ludwig. “The Vienna Health Councillor has only pointed out that the other federal states also have a responsibility for their population.”
Occupancy by guest patients already reduced
In fact, the case is not a new one. In 2019, the Vienna City Council passed Guidelines for reducing guest patients in hospitals of the Vienna Health Network: In the inpatient sector from 26 percent of all patients to 17 percent and in the outpatient sector from 26 to 19 percent.
The result: Since hospitals in the city of Vienna are taking in fewer “surgery tourists,” they are moving to the religious hospitals. There, the number of guest patients is increasing over the same period: inpatients from 14 to 25 percent, outpatients from five to 21 percent.
And that is why the Vienna City Council decided in April: The number of guest patients in Vienna’s religious hospitals must be reduced to 17 percent. A decision that was also approved by the Mayor of Vienna.
Numbers are falling, patients are suffering
Dozens of Austrians without a Vienna registration form are already complaining about even longer waiting times. In some cases the operation in Vienna was even cancelled. This even affects people who work in the capital but have their main residence in another federal state.
And according to the spokesperson for the Vienna religious hospitals, this situation could become even more acute. Because they “naturally adhere to this requirement from the City of Vienna and the Vienna Health Fund, which finance our services and on whose behalf we work.”
However, “should there be no other agreement with Vienna, Lower Austria or Burgenland regarding financing, “From January onwards, we will be able to treat significantly fewer people who do not live in Vienna.”
Even if this means shorter waiting times for some Viennese people, for people from Burgenland, Lower Austria and the Speckgürtler region this has a massive deterioration of medical services as a result.
The federal states protest
One of the central regulations for the relationship between the countries is the Financial equalizationAccording to Vienna’s Health Councillor Hacker, Vienna is getting “a little more” than the Vienna share of the total population – but that would still not be enough. The costs of guest patients are simply too high.
Both the state politicians responsible for health and hospitals, Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) and State Councillor Ludwig Schleritzko (ÖVP), reacted angrily to the accusations from Vienna. The two politicians said that they “will not accept that this contractual agreement is being abandoned and that this will lead to a deterioration for patients from both states”.
Dispute over money
Doskozil assumes that “contracts are respected in Austria” and he is strictly against Fighting over taxpayers’ money at the expense of patientsHe also rejects the argument that financial equalisation is inadequate.
“After all, there was recently an agreement on a new financial equalization scheme, which was supported by Vienna.” If you now draw borders between federal states that are at the expense of sick people, “then we have to rethink our fundamental coexistence in Austria.”
The bottom line is that three federal states are currently fighting over money and how to finance their respective health systems. The ones who suffer are the patients in the hospital waiting rooms. They currently have to wait much longer for urgent operations that they actually need immediately.
