The Austrian health system is complex and fragmented:

1. responsibilities are shared between the federal and the provincial (Länder) level
2. many responsibilities have been delegated to self-governing bodies (social insurance and professional bodies of health service providers)
3. health care financing is mixed, with the state (federal and Länder level) and social health insurance (SHI) funds contributing to different parts of the budget.

Health-related legislation is made at the federal level, usually initiated
by the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSPK, in brief: MoH). The nine states (Länder) are responsible for ensuring the availability of adequate hospital capacity, including outpatient care in hospitals, and they finance a major part of inpatient and outpatient care provided by hospitals. Ambulatory (extramural) care is regulated by collective contracts negotiated between self -governing bodies of SHI funds and providers.

These three players and the Austrian Ministry of Finance are the main actors in the two federal bodies for planning, organisation and financing of health care in Austria

• The Federal Health Commission (Bundesgesundheitskommission)
• The Federal Health Agency (Bundesgesundheitsagentur, BGA)

Further actors besides the national node GÖG that support the MoH are

• The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (Österreichische Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit GmbH, AGES), a joint agency of the MoH and Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism. It is in charge of the protection of human, animal and plant health, of medical and drug safety, and
  of food security and consumer protection along the food-chain.
• The Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care together with the Austrian Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (AGES Medizinmarktaufsicht, a section of AGES) is responsible for market authorisation of medicinal products and the assessment of the efficacy and safety of medicinal products and medical devices as well as market surveillance and inspection of manufacturers).
• The Electronic Health Record Institution (ELGA Ltd.) is a joint institution of the federal government, the state governments and the SHI funds. ELGA is responsible for the further development of the national e-health infrastructure (electronic health records, vaccination certificates)

Further relevant actors in the field of health information and data are the Chambers of Professional Bodies (e.g., the Austrian Chamber of Doctors which maintains the registry of phycisians) or the national statistical bureau "Statistik Austria", whose tasks are defined by the Austrian Federal Statistics Act.