Shortcomings and Oddities

Confusion Over Surgical Waiting Lists in the Federal States

In Austria, people often wait an eternity for certain surgeries.(Bild: Imre Antal)

How long do patients have to wait for a scheduled surgery? The states are required to disclose this information in transparent waiting lists. But each state does things its own way. Outdated information and procedures lumped together make it difficult for patients.

A new study by the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS), commissioned by the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor, has recently caused quite a stir regarding surgery wait times. 13.1 percent of those surveyed stated that they had been offered the option of getting a surgery appointment faster by visiting a private practice. In other words, those who pay get operated on sooner. According to the Chamber of Labor, it’s possible to “cut in line”; it refers to this as “corruption.”

Yet transparent surgery waiting lists are mandatory for every federal state. The law provides for a pseudonymized waiting list system for certain elective procedures if the wait time exceeds four weeks. This system must make “the total number of people on the waiting list for the procedure per department, and among them, the number of people in the special class, clearly identifiable.” However, not all federal states are complying properly, as a “Krone” comparison shows:

For hip, knee, and cataract surgeries, the range extends from three weeks for a hip replacement in Vienna to 115 weeks in Lower Austria’s combined category for hip and knee replacements in Neunkirchen.(Bild: Diverse Fotografen honorarfrei)

Outdated information, missing patient numbers, and bizarre figures
When it comes to reporting patient and special-class figures, there are clear standouts: Salzburg, Lower Austria, and Styria disclose both figures. Burgenland and Vorarlberg also report special-class patients. In Tyrol, the figures can be found on the lists of individual hospitals, such as in Kufstein. But even the frontrunners have their shortcomings: Salzburg and Lower Austria list hip and knee replacements in a single category. Another oddity: In Salzburg, there are zero patients on the waiting list for one procedure—yet the wait time is still seven weeks.

Data availability is inadequate in Upper Austria, Carinthia, and Vienna: Upper Austria and Carinthia published only wait times in their regional overviews, not patient numbers. Furthermore, the Carinthian data dates back to November 2025. The Vienna list includes only the hospitals in the Vienna Health Network, not all of the city’s hospitals. Coverage is also incomplete: Dornbirn Hospital maintains its own list, while Tyrol refers to individual hospital websites. As a result, there is no comprehensive overview of all hospitals in a single state.

It is precisely this lack of transparency that Green Party health spokesperson Ralph Schallmeiner denounces, while also calling on Health Minister Korinna Schumann to take action: “She must explain why the states have still not implemented the legally mandated transparent waiting lists and why the federal government has not intervened long ago.”