Transparency at the cantonal hospital This is how much the head physicians in Baden earn

Baden Cantonal Hospital is publishing the salaries of its senior physicians for the first time. The highest remuneration amounts to 581,760 francs. However, the hospital does not communicate quite so transparently.

After Aarau Cantonal Hospital published the salaries of its senior physicians last year, Baden Cantonal Hospital (KSB) is now also providing an insight into its salary system: "At KSB, no senior physician earns more than CHF 600,000, and 90 percent of chief physicians and senior managers have an income of less than CHF 500,000," it says on the hospital's website.

The hospital writes: "For reasons of transparency, we make these figures public."

Between 500,000 and 600,000 francs per year

The KSB's salary statistics from 2023 show that Eight senior physicians earned between 500,000 and 600,000 francs, while seven were in the 400,000 to 500,000 franc salary bracket. Fifty doctors receive between 300,000 and 400,000 francs, and fifteen earn between 200,000 and 300,000 francs. The highest remuneration amounts to 581,760 francs.

According to the KSB, this data comes from the salary statistics that the Board of Directors recently presented to the canton.

The "Aargauer Zeitung" (AZ) has tried several times since December 2023 to obtain information about the highest salaries at KSB.

KSB has repeatedly turned down the newspaper's requests. In the end, AZ turned to the cantonal commissioner for publicity and data protection (ÖDB). They determined that in the case of state support, public transparency should prevail. KSB finally relented to some extent.

KSB still refuses to publish a complete list

The second-largest hospital in the canton of Aargau justifies the level of salaries with several factors. According to the media office, the salaries are "in line with the market and customary in the industry". Decisive aspects are the years of training, the high level of responsibility of senior physicians, management tasks, irregular working hours and the competition for highly qualified specialists. "In order to retain or attract talented specialists, hospitals such as KSB must offer competitive salaries," the hospital says.

The hospital continues to refuse to publish a full list of the salaries of senior doctors earning over CHF 200,000 per year. It argues that this would allow conclusions to be drawn about individuals, which would violate the protection of privacy. As the KSB has not received any state aid, it feels less obliged to provide comprehensive salary information.