DGAP-News: RHÖN-KLINIKUM Aktiengesellschaft / Key word(s): Annual Results/Annual Results 
RHÖN-KLINIKUM Aktiengesellschaft: RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG Proves to be Reliable Regarding Challenges in COVID-19 Pandemic 
2021-03-25 / 08:00 
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 
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Corporate News 
Bad Neustadt / Saale | 25^th March 2021 
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG Proves to be Reliable Regarding Challenges in COVID-19 Pandemic 
  . Financial year 2020 was characterised by COVID-19 pandemic and takeover of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG by Asklepios Kliniken 
    GmbH & Co. KGaA 
 
  . Net consolidated profit falls drastically to Euro 2.5 million as a result of pandemic 
 
  . Operating result continues to be strongly influenced by increasing regulatory interventions, the highly competitive 
    environment and difficult conditions in the recruitment of specialist employees 
 
  . Significant increase in material and staffing costs due to corona protection measures 
 
  . Call on Federal Minister of Health to keep his promise that no hospital will become deficit as a result of 
    pandemic. The clinics urgently need full compensation for their lost revenue as well as planning security 
  . Supervisory Board re-appoints Dr Gunther K. Weiss to the Board of Management as of 1^st January 2022 
RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, one of the leading healthcare providers in Germany, looks back on a medically and economically 
challenging year: "Providing the best possible care for all our patients has always been our motivation even in the 
COVID 19 pandemic and its often difficult conditions. My special thanks go to the entire team at RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG," Dr 
Christian Höftberger, Chairman of the Board of Management of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, stated. 
In 2020 occupancy was significantly reduced in many hospitals due to the pandemic. Scheduled procedures and non-urgent 
medical treatments had to be postponed in order to keep beds free for COVID-19 patients and to implement new, stricter 
(hygiene) obligations. At the same time staffing and material requirements for the extensive hygiene protection 
measures increased massively. 
Many COVID-19 patients were often cared for over several weeks, even months, at our five sites providing university 
hospital medical care as well as at those providing maximum and intermediate medical care. 
The additional strict protective measures had to apply to all of the patients even if they did not all receive 
intensive medical care. 
This expense was and still is not taken into account in the remuneration system of flat rates per case. 
The higher material and staffing costs are in no way offset by corona-related additional payments received. Likewise, 
it was not taken into account when clinics could only partially utilise wards due to the isolation of COVID-19 patients 
and had to postpone treatments for patients with other diseases. "All this has led and continues to lead to a 
considerable economic burden for our clinics and jeopardises the assurance of satisfactory patient care. The 
compensation payments for bed capacities that have been kept free, which are subject to bureaucratic and irrelevant 
hurdles, do not cover our costs at all," Dr Höftberger stated. 
In particular the needs of university hospitals as well as those providing maximum and intermediate medical care, to 
which all RHÖN-KLINIKUM facilities belong, were left completely disregarded. On a supraregional basis we take special 
care of patients with extremely complex courses of disease. "The criterion for assessing the compensation payments is 
based on the incidence values for individual areas. 
It fails to recognise the scope of the corresponding care given by hospitals with large, supraregional catchment areas 
and is a completely unsuitable means of assessment," Dr Höftberger remarked. 
Appeal for a National Policy: Full Compensation for Revenue Shortfalls and Planning Security 
In principle we welcome the current commitment of the German Chancellor and the first ministers of the federal states 
to safeguard hospital revenues for the entire year 2021, but we also wish to emphasise that the value of this 
declaration of intent must be measured against the criteria of pragmatism, overall commitment and the speed of the 
actual implementation. 
The Board of Management of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG takes a critical view, however, of the current draft of the "regulation on 
further measures to safeguard the economic viability of hospitals" (Verordnung zur Regelung weiterer Maßnahmen zur 
wirtschaftlichen Sicherung der Krankenhäuser) from the Federal Ministry of Health. "We consider this to be an affront 
in view of the performance by all clinics during the pandemic. The Federal Ministry of Health has not only disappointed 
the justified expectations of hospitals with regard to measures ensuring adequate medical care, but it has also dealt a 
considerable blow to hospitals continuing to place their trust in German politics," Dr. Höftberger stated. "For years 
our staff have endured regulations and increasing bureaucratisation and they have most recently been on the front line 
in managing the pandemic. We have thus far always relied on the promises given by the central government to ensure the 
provision of healthcare." 
Although the current draft of the regulation foresees further compensation payments for hospitals, these are based on 
the revenue structures of the pre-corona year 2019. While hospitals' revenues for 2020 therefore remain significantly 
below those of financial year 2019 and the increase in costs that has occurred in the meantime is not taken into 
account, it is intended for repayments to be made in some cases. Yet there is no compensation for many sources of 
revenue which have been lost due to the pandemic, such as outpatient revenues, for example. 
Hospitals are therefore forced to compensate for lost revenues by drastically cutting costs. "It is unacceptable that 
hospitals are compelled by the inadequate compensation payments from the central government even to consider 
staff-reducing measures, such as short-time work (Kurzarbeit) and expiring fixed-term contracts, for example, and that 
of all times at the height of the pandemic. It is utterly ridiculous in view of the massive shortage of skilled 
workers", Dr Höftberger stated. 
Applying deductions of 5 % which are currently being discussed compared to the pre-corona year 2019 to the compensation 
mechanisms which are available for the entire year in 2021 and also deducting other reimbursements is not only 
unacceptable. It also threatens the existence of many hospitals in Germany. "The urgently required planning security 
for guaranteeing medical care is thus being thwarted contrary to the promises made. It is even being suggested that 
hospitals have lined their own pockets during the pandemic. The absurdity of such statements becomes clear in our net 
consolidated profit of approx. Euro 2.5 million in 2020 with the income in connection with the COVID-19 legislation in 
the amount of approx. Euro 94 million included in this figure on the balance sheet. The impression inevitably arises 
that the pandemic is being used for cold shakeouts of the hospital industry. This is neither medically nor morally 
justifiable," Dr Höftberger stated. 
The Board of Management of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG explicitly endorses the demands of the Federal Association of German 
Private Hospitals (Bundesverband Deutscher Privatkliniken e.V.) to revise the regulation on further measures to 
safeguard the economic viability of hospitals. "Hospitals need full compensation for their revenue shortfalls as well 
as planning security. These compensation payments must urgently be given to all hospitals. The central government had 
assured the hospitals that the pandemic would not cause any hospital to become deficit. We demand unequivocally that 
this promise is kept," Dr Höftberger stated. 
Strategic Partnership with Asklepios Offers New Possibilities 
The takeover by Asklepios made financial year 2020 a year of far-reaching changes for the corporate group. Two large 
healthcare companies have joined forces in a strategic partnership under the heading #gemeinsamnochstärker to be in a 
strong position on the German healthcare market. This partnership offers both companies the best preconditions to face 
together the challenges of the industry, exploit synergies and further develop their range of services for patients. 
"Our strategy and identity as an independent company in the new alliance with Asklepios will gradually evolve with our 
sense of belonging together growing and our networks becoming more tightly knitted together. In addition new 
possibilities are developing for us as an employer. We are very well positioned to be able to offer our existing and 
future employees a job in an exciting working environment with attractive framework conditions," Dr Höftberger 
emphasised. 
 
Financial Figures for 2020 - Achieved Targets 
In financial year 2020 RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG recorded a decline in EBITDA by EUR 45.1 million or 36.0 % to EUR 80.2 million, a 
decline in EBIT by EUR 46.2 million or 81.3 % to EUR 10.6 million as well as a decline in net consolidated profit by EUR 42.0 
million or 94.4 % to EUR 2.5 million with higher revenues up by EUR 56.2 million or 4.3 % in comparison with the previous 
year. 808,655 patients were treated at our five hospital sites in Bad Neustadt, Frankfurt (Oder), the university 
hospitals in Giessen and Marburg as well as in Bad Berka; this is a corona-related decline of 6.9 % in comparison with 
the same period last year. The Company currently employs 18,449 staff (2019: 18,142). 
The forecast for revenues for 2020 in the amount of EUR 1.4 billion in a range of +/- 5 % which was stated in the 2019 
Group Management Report was achieved with EUR 1.4 billion. The EBITDA forecast for 2020 in an amount ranging between EUR

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