The objective of this article is to study the factors influencing the leverage and debt maturity of 48 Public Entities and 297 Private Entities, in the health sector in Portugal, in the period between 2015 and 2021, including the pandemic crisis, coronavirus disease 2019.
To test the proposed hypotheses, the panel data methodology was used, considering the GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) system estimation method.
Our findings suggest that in times of crisis, both public and private entities resort to long-term loans to finance additional expenses and guarantee the continuity of health services. Also, there is a strong dependence on short-term debt (short leverage [SLEV]), especially in the public sector, suggesting some financial imbalance in current management, with no margin of financial security. In private hospitals, a more considered strategic definition is demonstrated, without current management risks.
As far as the authors are aware, this article is original and covers an important gap in the literature when considering the determinants of debt maturity in public and private hospitals in Portugal, a country where the debate about the essence of the National Health System, it’s in the news every day.
