Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Expenditure by Providers of Health Care

Expenditure by Providers of Health Care

Online ISSN: 2009-8812
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Who is delivering the health care goods and services?

Out of every €100 spent on health care in 2022, €38 was spent in hospitals and €21 in out-patient health care providers, mainly GPs and dentists. A further €17 was spent in long-term residential facilities, such as nursing homes and residential disability services, and €11 in retailers of medical goods (mainly pharmacies). See Figure 5.1.

Health expenditure rose by 38% between 2018 and 2022. Spending on COVID-19 testing and tracing and vaccinations is included in the Providers of Preventative Care category and explains the higher levels in since 2020. There has also been a 41% increase in spending in Hospitals and 46% for Ambulatory Health Care Provider. See Table 5.1.

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)
Hospitals38
Ambulatory Health Care Provider21
Long-Term Residential Facilities17
Retailer of Medical Goods11
Ancillary Health Care Provider1
Other Providers12
Current Health Care Expenditure By Provider (% Change between 2018 to 2022)
Hospitals41
Ambulatory Health Care Provider46.4
Long-Term Residential Facilities29.6
Retailers of Medical Goods15.8
Ancillary Health Care Provider32.7
Other Providers54.2
Table 5.1: Current Health Care Expenditure by Provider, 2018 to 2022

How are the health care providers funded?

Figure 5.3 below provides a breakdown of health care expenditure by health care provider and financing source for 2022. As noted earlier in this publication, 77% of health care expenditure is funded by Government, 12% by health insurance and the remaining 11% by household out-of-pocket payments - this profile of total spending is included as the bottom bar of the graph and can be used as a reference point to compare across providers.

Differences from the overall pattern were observed in the expenditure by providers of healthcare system administration and financing - none of which was provided by households. Only 2% of hospital provided care was paid directly by households, however direct payments by households accounted for 22% of the expenditure in pharmacies and retailers of medical goods.  Voluntary payment schemes accounted for a small percentage (2%) of payments to long-term residential care facilities compared to 19% that was funded by households.

HF.1 - Government and CompulsoryHF.2 - Voluntary Health Care Payment SchemesHF.3 - Household Out-of-Pocket Payments
Hospitals78202
Long-Term Residential Facilities79219
Ambulatory Health Care Provider74620
Ancillary Health Care Provider71.26626958505771415
Retailer of Medical Goods78022
Providers of Preventative Care9730
Providers of Health Care Administration and Financing29710
Rest of the Economy89.6985718416658100
Rest of the World69310
Provider n.e.c.9550
All Health Care Providers77.39710578032431211
Table 5.2: Current Health Care Expenditure by Health Care Provider and Health Care Financing Scheme, 2022