Uncertain Future for Hospitals: "Growing Deficits Push Us Towards Insolvency"
The Neckar-Odenwald district is set to discuss the future of its clinics in Mosbach and Buchen at a meeting later this month, following the presentation of a report commissioned by the supervisory board of the clinics.
The report, which does not provide details on the preferred proposals by the commissioned experts for the clinics' future, considers various scenarios. These include maintaining both hospitals in their current form, converting both hospitals, closing one hospital, and closing both hospitals in favour of a new central location.
The experts who prepared the report prefer a variant where both hospitals remain, with Buchen being expanded and Mosbach reduced to a sector-crossing provider. However, it's important to note that the supervisory board has not yet evaluated the report, and no decision has been made regarding the future of the hospitals.
Correspondingly high losses are expected for the current year 2025, and the clinics are expected to have a deficit of "clearly more than ten million euros" in 2024. The report does not state the current financial status of the clinics or the cost of any of the considered scenarios.
The district has been making annual equalization payments for the clinics, and the money comes via the district surcharge from the Neckar-Odenwald cities and communities. However, the district administrator, Achim Brötel (CDU), has previously stated that high equalization payments to the clinics are not sustainable in the long run. He also notes that without the equalization payments, the clinics would no longer exist.
The report does not mention any alternative funding sources for the clinics, and the Neckar-Odenwald cities and communities are financially struggling as well. The state will express its opinion regarding the report, and the experts will be available for questions and answers during the presentation.
The discussion process will be as transparent as possible, with the report to be presented to the district council on September 24. Brötel states that the location of the proposed new central hospital, should that be the preferred scenario, has not been specified in the report.
It's a critical time for the Neckar-Odenwald clinics, and the community awaits the council's decision with bated breath. The future of healthcare in the district hangs in the balance.
