Krankenanstalten in Österreich/Hospitals in Austria

Hospitals in Austria
Statistical information on the Austrian hospital sector
Inpatient care has traditionally played an important role in Austria. For this reason, Austria still
has a large number of hospital beds in comparison with the European average. Based on the
Austrian population of approximately 8.28 millions, bed coverage per 1,000 residents in 2006
was about 7.7 beds in total and 6.4 acute care beds. Owing to the reduction in the number of
beds in recent years, especially in acute hospitals, bed coverage has decreased despite a
growing population (the notable reductions in beds between 2001 and 2002 and again between
2003 and 2004 are statistical artefacts caused by the removal from the hospital statistics
of hospital-type wards in nursing care institutions).
Development of bed capacity in Austria, per 1,000 residents
9.89 9.69
9.47 9.49 9.42 9.30 9.18 9.04 8.88 8.72
22
8.62 8.41 8.34
7.73 7.68 7.66
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Source: BMGFJ – Hospitals in figures, beds (Figure 2)
In 2006, Austrian hospitals recorded some 2.7 million inpatient stays, 96 % of these in acute
hospitals. Hospitalization frequency (hospital stays per 100 residents) was more than
32 %. It should, however, be mentioned that international comparability of hospital stays
might be limited owing to certain features of the Austrian hospital statistics, e.g.
� day clinic admissions and certain outpatient services are included in the inpatient sector as
a result of the accounting and funding system;
� patients receiving subsequent inpatient follow-up treatment (e.g. chemotherapy) are recorded
as being admitted and discharged at each session, thus adding to the high number
of inpatient cases;
� additionally, exceptions defined by the accounting method for certain medical services
(e.g. psychiatric day care, geriatric care), and other circumstances (e.g. a change of insurers
that affects payment obligations) may result in de facto multiple-listing of individual
hospital stays, which is leading to a (statistical) increase in the number of inpatient stays.
Development of inpatient stays in Austria, per 100 residents
23.9 24.2 24.4 24.8
25.1 25.5 27.1 28.2 29.2 29.7 30.1 31.1 31.3 31.7 31.8 32.5
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Source: BMGFJ – Hospitals in figures, inpatient stays (Figure 2)