Overview
- The Health Ministry presented data showing privately run hospitals integrated into the SNS rose from 106 in 2011 to 145 in 2023, now accounting for 30.7% of the network.
- Those centres received €4.8 billion in the latest certified year, while public funds also financed 34.6% of stays and about 21% of major ambulatory surgeries and day‑hospital sessions in non‑integrated private hospitals.
- The report cites risks including fragmented care, weaker planning capacity, wage gaps, overcosts and limited billing traceability, with evidence of selective admission of less complex patients.
- Public hospitals performed over 95% of the most severe and costly procedures, indicating complex cases are concentrated in the public network despite rising private insurance uptake.
- Minister Mónica García said a regulation will go to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks to repeal the 1997 law and restrict for‑profit control of publicly funded centres after the Torrejón recordings surfaced.