Zweisimmen Hospital: Canton of Bern pays millions to private groups for sick hospital

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As if from nowhere, a new interested party appeared: Medaxo AG, which operates a private clinic in Thun, submitted an offer to operate the hospital in Zweisimmen; this offer had always come from Spital Simmental-Thun-Saanenland (STS). ) AG will be managed. It also provides medical care to the Bernese Oberland with a clinic in Thun.

The Berne government announced that it preferred Medaxo’s project to STS’s plans. And not only that: The health department of government councilor Pierre Alain Schnegg (SVP) also wants to provide Medaxo with significant financial aid from the cantonal treasury to take over the hospital in Zweisimmen. This is what it says in the draft proposal presented to the entire government from the Health Directorate.

The document is available at a glance. This suggests that Medaxo will need to secure up to 3 million francs a year from 2025 to close the gap, as well as a 10.5 million cantonal loan to secure liquidity and a $20 million guarantee for a planned new building.

Unsuccessful financing applications

If the Berne government gets its way, the current operator STS will have to bear five million in operating costs during the transition phase. There are reports of outrage about these plans from around STS: the company is “pouring in” between two and five million francs a year into Zweisimmen to cover the deficits – applications for funding to the canton have been unsuccessful.

STS never had the opportunity to operate the hospital in Zweisimmen under the conditions currently offered to the rival company; The canton has never been as generous to Medaxo as it is now. Due to the shortage of skilled workers and limited income, operating more than one outpatient center in the future is not considered promising.

It is not yet known whether STS will comply with this requirement voluntarily and transfer the hospital in Zweisimmen to Medaxo for one franc. STS spokeswoman Mirjam Huber said that at next week’s meeting the board of directors will analyze the Berne government’s intentions and discuss how to move forward. We will not comment on the issue until then.

So how did it get to this point? In November 2023, when one of the six municipalities in the region rejected the planned healthcare network’s cost-sharing with an acute hospital (one vote missing), hospital operations in Zweisimmen had to be reorganized.

Now it will be taken over by the private Medaxo in Zweisimmen, which operates a private clinic a few kilometers away from Thun and is therefore in direct competition with the public hospital. Health Director Schnegg’s spokesman, Gundekar Giebel, said that Medaxo contacted them and they saw that their project was feasible. The private company is planned to be supported by millions from the canton. Like other providers, Medaxo has the right to apply for services.

Private clinic silent about public money

Medaxo CEO Thomas Mattmann points out that his company sees reasonable synergies with the existing private clinic in Thun and the doctors’ application to take over the hospital in Zweisimmen. Mattmann does not want to comment on the fact that the canton promised Medaxo millions in operational, loan and guarantee support for a new building: “We do not comment on the figures.” The project is based on the district’s health care proposal voted on last year.

As the owner and sole shareholder of the hospitals in Thun and Zweisimmen, the canton is within the power of the government council to mandate the transfer of STS to its rival Medaxo. The Grand Council, the cantonal parliament, has no say in the matter.

The canton is now investing large sums of money in Zweisimmen, while the island group has been forced to close two hospitals in Bern and Münsingen. While Health Director Schnegg declared in 2019 that it was not the canton’s responsibility to support hospitals in financial distress, the government is currently allocating a maximum of 100 million francs until 2028 to protect hospitals and psychiatric clinics from possible bankruptcies.

This new generosity can already be seen in the Zweisimmen Hospital template; There are millions here.

Source : Blick