15 September 2026, by Schreyögg/Ed.

Photo: Gregor Schläger

Prof. Dr. Jonas Schreyögg.

The University of Hamburg (UHH) is home to more than 6,200 researchers. Every two weeks, in the “Research and Understanding” series in the Hamburger Abendblatt, we provide insight into their work. In this installment, Prof. Dr. Jonas Schreyögg discusses topics related to the financing and quality of health care.

How well will I be cared for at one hospital versus another? Is one operator better than another—and does a takeover affect the quality of care? These are questions that patients planning a hospital stay often ask themselves. We at the health economics research center “Hamburg Center for Health Economics (HCHE)” also ask ourselves these and other questions—and strive to answer them.

Founded in 2011 as a joint center of the University of Hamburg and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, the HCHE is now one of the largest health economics research institutions in Europe. Nearly 100 researchers, including twelve professors, combine economic methods with medical expertise. The primary focus is on how the limited resources of the healthcare system can be used to maximize benefits for the public. Research priorities range from the financing and organization of the healthcare system to health economic evaluations of new drugs and technologies, outpatient and inpatient care, pharmaceutical markets, and population health, as well as AI, digital health, and the healthcare workforce.

Takeovers Can Help Under-Capitalized Hospitals

As a professor of healthcare management at the University of Hamburg, I head the HCHE and conduct research using data from health insurance companies, hospitals, and outpatient medical practices. Together with my team, I am currently investigating how hospital takeovers influence the quality of care. We have just published research findings showing that mortality rates following treatment for heart attacks decrease in acquired hospitals. However, we see no change in mortality rates following treatment for strokes. Heart attack care depends heavily on well-standardized infrastructure—a cardiac catheterization lab, for example, has a relatively rapid impact. Stroke care, on the other hand, requires well-coordinated, interdisciplinary teams and processes that cannot be established overnight. The results are therefore not a blanket call for more hospital mergers. However, they do show that, depending on the specialty, acquisitions can provide undercapitalized hospitals with access to necessary investments.

The transfer of findings into policy and practice also plays an important role for us. Several of our staff members serve on committees that advise policymakers, associations, and institutions. I myself am currently a member of the Health Finance Commission. This commission was established in September 2025 by Federal Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU). It consists of ten experts in economics, medicine, social law, ethics, and prevention. Its mandate is to stabilize contributions to statutory health insurance (GKV) starting in 2027.

Financial shortfall estimated at more than 42 billion by 2030

First of all, we had to identify the causes of the dramatic financial shortfall. Contrary to what many people think, this financial shortfall is not caused by demographic trends. Rather, it is the result of legislation enacted between 2009 and 2025 that drove up reimbursement rates in many areas of healthcare—in part as a result of the prosperous economic development of the 2010s. In our first report in March 2026, we estimated the funding gap through 2030 at more than 42 billion. Without political intervention—that is, without particularly painful cuts to provider reimbursements—the average statutory health insurance premium for employees and employers would have risen by 680 euros per year by 2030.

Of the commission’s 66 proposals, 53 were adopted by the Bundestag on July 10 as part of the Statutory Health Insurance Contribution Rate Stabilization Act. A second report from the commission, containing proposals for structural reforms with long-term effects—extending through 2040 at the latest—will be submitted to Health Minister Carsten Linnemann (CDU) in mid-December 2026.

(This content has been translated automatically.)