Healthcare institutions had a relatively difficult time financially in 2022. One in three suffered a loss and the return of all institutions together almost halved, the accountants and consultancy firm EY concluded on Tuesday in the annual Barometer Dutch Healthcare. In it, EY looked at the annual reports of the 785 healthcare providers active in the Netherlands, which together account for almost 80 billion euros in operating income.
The agency sees major differences within the healthcare sector. The hospitals did reasonably well financially, while mental health care and care for the elderly had a more difficult time financially. Institutions in particular spent more money on hiring freelancers (these costs rose from 7.8 to 8.7 percent) and on the increased interest, construction costs and pledge rents.
The corona pandemic also has an aftermath. A number of financial schemes to help healthcare institutions have now passed. But in elderly care, for example, due to excess mortality due to the virus, not all beds are filled, which means that some of these institutions cannot make ends meet financially.
Dark clouds
Then there are the personnel issues that have been bothering healthcare for some time. The labor market was still tight last year and the number of vacancies increased slightly. About 1 in 25 healthcare jobs were unfilled. At 7.6 percent, absenteeism among staff was still higher than in 2019 (6 percent), but considerably lower than in 2022, when the percentage was between 10 and 15 percent, depending on the exact sector.
“After the dark clouds we identified last year, we can now safely say that lightning has struck some places in the Dutch healthcare system,” EY writes in the report. At least 25 healthcare providers have not yet published their annual reports, which may make the figures worse. “We expect that they will mainly report losses.” This means that the number of providers with red figures can reach 250, “a new record”.