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Expenditure by Providers of Health Care

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Who is delivering the health care goods and services? 

Out of every €100 spent on health care in 2020, €37 was spent in hospitals and €20 in out-patient health care providers, mainly GPs and dentists. A further €18 was spent in long-term residential facilities, such as nursing homes and residential disability services, and €12 in retailers of medical goods (mainly pharmacies), (see Figure 4.1).

Health expenditure rose by 32% between 2016 and 2020. Spending by Providers of Preventative Care had the highest increase of 123% over this time period. There was also rises of 34% in Hospitals and 33% for Ambulatory Health Care Provider, (see Figure 4.2).

Health care providers include all the organisations and individuals who deliver health care goods and services as their primary activity. Also included are those who deliver health care as one of a number of activities, see the Background Notes for more details.

Current Health Care Expenditure By Provider (% Current Health Care Expenditure)
Hospitals37.3885524746933
Ambulatory Health Care Provider20.0468016979622
Long-Term Residential Facilities17.7694287009136
Retailer of Medical Goods12.3192150603818
Ancillary Health Care Provider1.30562770057186
Other Providers11.1703743654772
Current Health Care Expenditure By Provider (% Change between 2016 to 2020)
Hospitals34.1982073573087
Ambulatory Health Care Provider33.1957499028591
Long-Term Residential Facilities28.0990536112639
Retailers of Medical Goods17.4288861646504
Anillary Health Care Provider23
Other Providers50
Table 4.1: Current Health Care Expenditure by Provider, 2016 to 2020

How are the health care providers funded?

Figure 4.3 below provides a breakdown of health care expenditure by health care provider and financing source for 2020. As noted earlier in this publication, 79% of health care expenditure is funded by Government, 11% by health insurance and the remaining 10% by household out-of-pocket payments - this split in total spending is on the bottom bar of the graph and can be used to highlight which providers diverge from this pattern.

Differences from the overall pattern were observed in the expenditure on providers of healthcare system administration and financing, 64% of which was provided by private health insurance companies. Only 2% of hospital provided care was paid directly by households, however direct payments by households accounted for 23% of the expenditure in pharmacies and retailers of medical goods.  Voluntary payment schemes accounted for a small percentage (3%) of payments to long-term residential care facilities.

HF.1 - Government and CompulsoryHF.2 - Voluntary Health Care Payment SchemesHF.3 - Household Out-of-Pocket Payments
Hospitals80.283909354566618.20976955881121.50632108662219
Long-Term Residential Facilities80.68270531183982.8594291098741216.4578655782861
Ambulatory Health Care Provider76.41179587234225.0589351684128318.5292689592449
Ancillary Health Care Provider74.259419067450610.856925962960714.8836549695887
Retailer of Medical Goods76.7936280113454023.2063719886546
Providers of Preventative Care92.46504142899287.534958571007230
Providers of Health Care Administration and Financing37.350314263761962.64968573623810
Rest of the Economy90.74067018616878.820668162950070.438661650881251
Rest of the World78.202041617361921.79795838263810
Provider n.e.c.96.41416020218883.585839797811170
All Health Care Providers78.918941645343410.682922878895310.3981354757613
Table 4.2: Current Health Care Expenditure by Health Care Provider and Health Care Financing Scheme, 2020