An increase follows a significant reduction of 36% observed between 2022 and 2023, from approximately 368 million euros to around 235 million euros.
The latest “Monitoring Information on the Contracted Clinical Analysis Sector” examines the last three years and reveals a “growth trend” in 2024 regarding the distribution of total expenses across the five health regions.
The ERS also indicates that clinical analysis represented the second largest expenditure of the National Health Service (SNS) with the contracted sector last year.
Despite a slight reduction of 1.1% in 2024, the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region continues to hold the highest absolute expense. In contrast, the Central, Algarve, and Alentejo regions stood out with “the largest positive variations” of 13.7%, 7.8%, and 6.2%, respectively.
The Northern region saw an increase of 3.6%.
Expenditures on clinical analysis per thousand inhabitants amounted to 24,141 euros in mainland Portugal.
In 2024, there were 845 requests per 1,000 inhabitants, representing a 4.4% increase compared to the previous year, driven mainly by the Northern region, which saw a 15% rise in this indicator.
On the other hand, other regions experienced declines, such as Alentejo and Algarve, which showed a decrease in the number of requests, with -9.5% and -6.3%, respectively.
By the end of last year, the Regulated Establishments Registration System (SRER) reported 3,422 establishments operating in this area (3,196 collection points and 226 laboratories), reflecting a growth of 1.4% compared to 2023.
However, the proportion of establishments contracted with the National Health Service decreased to 22.9% of the total private market—a decline from the previous year.
The geographical distribution of supply highlighted regional asymmetries, with 73 municipalities lacking access to contracted services, resulting in travel times ranging from 12 minutes in the North to up to an hour and 17 minutes in the Algarve.
The market concentration reveals that three operators (5% of the total) accounted for more than half of the accepted requests (55.1%), maintaining high levels in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley, Central, Northern, and Algarve regions, yet “below the value range that raises concerns according to European Commission guidelines (2,000 to 10,000 points).”
The only region not following this trend was Alentejo, which saw a slight decline.
