Study finds private payments can speed up surgery

Patients who pay privately or hold supplementary insurance often wait less time for planned operations in Upper Austria, a study commissioned by the province’s Chamber of Labour has found. ORF reports that the survey was conducted by the Institute for Advanced Studies.

The study questioned 810 people who had undergone surgery in a public hospital or a hospital run by a religious order in Upper Austria in the previous three years. Some 13.1 percent said they had been offered an earlier operation date if they visited a private doctor’s practice; 6.1 percent accepted. Another 9.1 percent said they were offered faster treatment in return for a private payment, and 2.8 percent took up the offer. The extra costs ranged from 200 to 8,600 euros.

People without private cover or other private arrangements waited a median of 20 weeks for planned surgery. Those who paid privately waited 12.5 weeks, while those who used private contacts waited 17.5 weeks. The median wait was eight weeks for patients with supplementary private insurance and 7.5 weeks for those who combined several private options.

The survey also found differences related to education and income. People whose highest qualification was compulsory school or an apprenticeship waited an average of 25 weeks, compared with 16 weeks for those with higher formal education. Respondents with monthly household income of more than 2,100 euros waited 18.5 weeks on average, while those with lower incomes waited 24 weeks.

The Chamber of Labour said Upper Austria’s Hospital Act requires operation dates to be assigned only on medical, organisational and social grounds. It said the findings pointed to economic factors having a growing influence.

The chamber is calling for a legally guaranteed right to an operation within 12 weeks, measures to prevent patients from being moved up waiting lists for non-medical reasons, and an independent complaints office outside hospital operators.

Brigitte Huber-Reiter, the Greens’ health spokeswoman in Upper Austria, said she would submit an oral question to Deputy Governor Christine Haberlander of the Austrian People’s Party at the next session of the provincial parliament, asking how the state would respond to the allegations.