For more than 25 years, Belfius has been analyzing the financial situation of general hospitals in Belgium through its Maha study (Model for Automatic Hospital Analysis).
The in-depth analysis of the 2019 annual accounts of Belgian hospitals (part 1) shows once again that their financial health is precarious, despite a very slight improvement compared to previous years. Consequently, they cannot absorb a financial setback, especially a tsunami like the Covid-19 crisis.
The first projections (part 2) suggest, with the usual precautions, turbulence of an unprecedented magnitude for the sector. With the second wave of contaminations, hospitals are likely to suffer a current loss of more than 2 billion Euros.
The hospital sector alone will not be able to overcome the financial consequences of this health crisis (part 3). In the short term, financial support from the public authorities is indispensable, while in the medium term structural reforms in hospital financing seem unavoidable to preserve the sector's viability
