According to the first economic barometer released by the German Hospital Association (DKG), published by the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday edition), a vast majority of hospitals are struggling financially. Seventy-four percent of clinics report their current economic situation as rather unsatisfactory, and this figure rises to 95 percent in larger institutions with over 600 beds.
The outlook is equally grim. Fifty-nine percent of hospitals anticipate their economic situation will worsen over the next six months, a figure that jumps to up to 79 percent in rural areas. Furthermore, only nine percent of hospitals stated that they could cover their average operating expenses indefinitely using existing liquid funds. For the remainder, liquidity currently lasts, on average, for only six weeks to finance ongoing operations.
DKG Head Gerald Gaß told the newspaper that the liquidity of many facilities hardly even covers a few weeks today. He raised serious concerns about how some clinics plan to pay bonuses, such as Christmas bonuses, toward the end of the year. He stated that having a liquidity reserve lasting only a few weeks precludes normal economic functioning.
Gaß noted that it is particularly alarming that this survey was conducted before the full impact of the federal government’s austerity measures was truly understood. The survey itself was carried out between April 17 and April 22, 2026. Gaß urgently appealed to the federal government, stressing that “this concerns the sheer economic existence of many clinics”. He cautioned that failure to act now risks a structural threat to healthcare provision throughout Germany.
