The economic situation of hospitals in Baden-Württemberg, in south-west Germany, remains worrying. They ended 2015 with a cumulative record deficit of EUR 145 million. Due to high investment requirements, liabilities also rose to a new record level of EUR 3.1 billion.

More than half of the 30 largest hospital associations are in deficit. The share of state-owned hospitals among the deficit clinics has risen again. Among the hospitals currently in debt - 94 percent are publicly owned.

This study reveals many reasons for the tense situation. For example, only 12 percent assume an improvement in their economic situation and 45 percent expect a further deterioration.

Hospitals are faced with further challenges. How can medical services be improved in times of demographic change? How to benefit from medical progress? How does one attract and motivate qualified personnel?

Experts from Roland Berger are convinced that hospitals can be operated economically in the long term. For this purpose, it is important to make the operation more flexible, also with the aid of digitalization, in order to be able to react quickly and specifically to changes.