Abstract
Background/Objectives: European healthcare systems are increasingly adopting automation technologies to improve efficiency. This study evaluates the economic viability of
hospital automation and medication management digitalization. Methods: An economic
evaluation was based on a standardized hospital model comprising 561 beds, representative of an average acute care hospital across EU27 + UK. For each technology, several cost
items were estimated using country-specific parameters such as labor costs, medication
error rates, healthcare expenditure, and money discount rate. The financial metrics (Return
On Investment—ROI, Net Present Value—NPV, Payback Time—PBT) were first calculated
at the hospital level. These results were then extrapolated to the national level by scaling
the per-hospital estimates according to the total number of hospital beds reported in each
country. Finally, national results were aggregated to derive the overall European impact.
Results: The analysis estimated a total European investment of EUR 3.55 billion, with an
average PBT of 4.46 years and annual savings of 1,96 billion. ROI averaged 167%, and
the total NPV was 8.21 billion. A major saving driver was the reduction in Medication
Administration Errors that has an impact of 37.2% on the total savings. Payback times
ranged from 3 years in high-GDP countries, to 7 years in lower-GDP nations. Conclusions:
These findings demonstrate how providing structured data on hospital automation benefits
could support decision-making processes, highlighting the organizational and economic
feasibility of the investment across different European national contexts.