The Tribunal de Cuentas has closed its investigation into the Community of Madrid's hospital billing practices, rejecting allegations by PSOE spokesperson Mar Espinar. The court found no evidence of financial loss or unclaimed debts involving hospital groups Quirón and Ribera Salud, bringing scrutiny of the region's inter-hospital compensation system to a close.
The complaint concerned an alleged €71 million write-off involving Grupo Quirón and Ribera Salud. The case focused on how Madrid's health service handles payments when patients exercise their right to choose a hospital. Under the regional free-choice model, patients may receive care outside their initially assigned facility, triggering financial transfers between the public health service and hospitals, including privately managed facilities. Espinar argued that the regional government had failed to collect certain sums from private concessionaires managing public hospitals. The Tribunal's resolution, as described in the case, found no proof that amounts went unclaimed or that the administration suffered specific, demonstrable financial damage.
A joint commission also oversees payment arrangements involving the Fundación Jiménez Díaz, managed by Quirón, and the Servicio Madrileño de Salud (SERMAS). It handles economic claims and public-price updates, including compensation linked to patient referrals. Madrid's transparency response says the commission last met in 2023 and did not meet in 2024 or 2025, although its rules call for ordinary meetings twice a year. The administration said it had no minutes for those two years because no further meetings took place. That gap raises questions about documentation and oversight, but does not establish that a debt was forgiven or that the issue affected the Tribunal's decision.
Throughout the proceedings, the Community of Madrid maintained that its actions complied with current legislation and that no funds had gone uncollected from the companies involved. The Public Prosecutor also supported ending the case, citing the absence of accounting liability. The Tribunal's closure backs the regional government's position on the specific allegations, but should be distinguished from broader figures on payments to Quirón. A separate report put Madrid's budgeted and paid amounts to the group at €450,743,839 in one period and more than €891.8 million in another, an increase of over €441 million. Those figures concern broader funding and are separate from the €71 million alleged in the complaint.
The outcome comes amid wider scrutiny of public-private partnerships in Spain's healthcare sector. A separate debate concerns Madrid's 11 PFI and PPP hospitals, whose private arrangements are expected to remain in place until 2030 or 2035, depending on the contracts. The same commentary reported that four Quirónsalud-built and managed hospitals cost €1.6 billion in 2024, more than twice their original budget. These broader figures add context to the debate over public healthcare financing but do not establish wrongdoing in the Quirón-Ribera billing dispute. Similar concerns over transparency and public spending have surfaced in other regions, as highlighted in a recent investigation into oversight failures in Catalonia's youth support payments.
The Tribunal de Cuentas is Spain's external public-sector audit body and also has jurisdiction over accounting liability. Its decision to archive the Madrid case ends proceedings over the specific claims raised by the PSOE. Public attention remains focused on how financial claims tied to patient referrals and inter-hospital compensation are documented in a healthcare system combining public funding with private hospital management.
