More sales and further growth - but the economic situation of German hospitals worsened in 2016, following a period of recovery in 2015.

In the past financial year, 40 percent of the hospitals in our survey did not generate any surplus. For the 2017 financial year, hospital managers expect a worsening of their economic situation. In the medium term, more than 60 percent of them see more turbulent economic conditions.

Digitalization is therefore often seen as an opportunity. Nearly 90 percent of managers say they have a digital strategy.

The downside: 64 percent of German hospitals have already been victims of a cyber-attack. Therefore, the main focus will have to be on the improvement of firewalls, emergency concepts and staff training. Most of the houses, however, lack the (public) resources to invest.

More than 60 percent of the hospitals surveyed are in a phase of improving their earnings. The managers saw the greatest potential in the strategic positioning of their hospital.

Only about 60 percent of hospitals use digitalization as part of their improvement measures, compared to 70 percent in the year before. However, hospitals are increasingly generating significant economic contributions through digitalization.