Krankenanstalten in Österreich/Hospitals in Austria

Hospitals in Austria
Characteristics of the Austrian hospital sector
The Austrian hospital sector is diverse and complex. The creation of a simplified structured
overview is therefore challenging. The table “Structural details of the Austrian hospitals 2006”
shows the 264 inpatient hospitals in operation at the end of 2006 with a total of 63,354 available
beds, classified on the basis of the following criteria and definitions:
Care sector
� Acute care hospitals are those hospitals funded by public means via the provincial health
funds (see below) and other hospitals with an average length of stay of 18 days or less,
according to OECD and WHO definitions.
� Non-acute care is provided by all other hospitals.
Type of care
� General care is provided in hospitals with a wide range of medical services, but with a
minimum of general surgery and general internal medicine. General care is provided in the
acute care sector only, by general hospitals and sanatoria (see below).
� Specialized care is provided in hospitals dedicated to the examination and treatment of
patients with particular illnesses (e.g. psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation centres) or patients
in particular age groups (e.g. paediatric hospitals), or for other special purposes
(e.g. military hospitals). Specialized care is provided in both the acute sector and the nonacute
sector by special hospitals, sanatoria and long-term hospitals for the chronically ill
(see below).
Type of hospital
The type of hospital refers to the definitions in the Federal Hospitals Act (KAKuG) (see “Scope
of survey and sources”):
� General hospitals (1) provide care for all patients without distinction as to sex, age or
type of medical care; this group includes all hospitals for public benefit providing general
care.
� Special hospitals (2) provide examination and treatment of patients with particular illnesses
or patients in particular age groups, or for other special purposes; rehabilitation
centres are also special hospitals; the small number of convalescent homes (3) are also
included in this group; there are no longer any stand-alone maternity clinics and maternity
homes (5). Special hospitals may be either acute or non-acute hospitals. This
group does not include sanatoria providing specialized care.
� Sanatoria (6) are specially equipped to provide higher standards of board and accommodation.
Sanatoria provide general (acute) care or specialized acute or non-acute care (specialized
sanatoria sometimes call themselves “Sonderkrankenanstalt” (special hospital),
however these sanatoria are included under the heading of sanatoria).
� Long-term hospitals for the chronically ill (4) care for patients in need of medical care
and special nursing care; these institutions are non-acute hospitals providing specialized
care.
Financing/funding
� DRG-based funding by provincial health funds (Landesgesundheitsfonds, formerly
Landesfonds) applies to hospitals with public law status (see below), general and specialized,
and private general hospitals for public benefit (running on a non-profit basis). The
provincial health funds all draw upon the resources of the federal government, the provinces,
local authorities and the social insurance system. The data sets of the hospitals
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