The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) today decided on adjustments to the Health Insurance Benefits Ordinance. From 1 July 2026, among other things, the tariffs for laboratory analyses will be reduced. According to the FOPH, this should result in savings of around 85 million Swiss francs per year.
H+ basically supports cost containment measures in the healthcare sector. However, the prerequisite is that these are balanced and do not compromise the security of supply. That the FOPH is now additionally reducing the tariffs of the ten most revenue-intensive analysis positions seems arbitrary given the ongoing revision of the analysis list.
From H+'s perspective, tariff decisions must be based on comprehensible foundations and be integrated into the ongoing revision work. Across-the- board cuts in central laboratory analyses additionally burden the outpatient sector, which is already under considerable economic pressure today. Additional tariff cuts further restrict the scope for action of service providers and hinder the necessary transformation of the healthcare system towards more outpatient and networked care forms. Tariff adjustments must be oriented in the long term to the actual costs and the requirements of high-quality patient care.
For H+, it remains central that cost containment measures are not considered in isolation. The long-term stability of healthcare provision requires that the services provided are adequately and cost-covering compensated. Only in this way can hospitals and clinics reliably fulfil their supply mandate in the future.