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Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell
The Hungarian health Hungary’s healthcare system operates under a single health insurance fund , covering that covers nearly all residents, though although its service range of services is more limited compared to other EU countries.
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The single health insurance fund is managed administered by the National Institute of Health Insurance Fund Management (NEAK), which is supervised by the Ministry of Human Capacities. Funding comes is derived from payroll contributions and government transfers.
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According to the most recent data from 2010, health insurance covered the entire population of Hungary. This coverage encompasses both those who are , including both members of health insurance schemes and those who have with free access to state-provided healthcare services (Our World in Data, n.p.).
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The National eHealth Infrastructure and its specialised modules were established within the framework of (through projects no. TIOP-2.3.2-12/1-2013-0001 and TIOP-2.3.1-13/1-2013-0001) under the social infrastructure operating programme Social Infrastructure Operating Programme, with support from the European Union and co-funding by the Hungarian State, with a . The total investment of amounted to 4.87 billion Hungarian forints (approximately 13.15 million USD). Continuous development of the system is ensured by forms through close cooperation of between the Hungarian State and the European Union, such as project no. 1.9.6 of the Human Resource Development Operating Programme / EFOP of Hungary.Establishing the EESZT infrastructure was a significant milestone in the history of Hungary’s e-healthcare, focused on establishing the Electronic Health Service and Data Integration System, known as EESZT.
The core principle of behind the system is was to interconnect the earlier previously fragmented healthcare data systems in all of Hungary, and - taking into account foreign examples - across the country and, drawing on international examples, collect all data in into a central system, thus the operating services of the Infrastructure would allow the various . This would enable treatment locations to access the necessary information seamlessly. Another important key objective was to provide modern central centralised services, such as subsystems for issuing electronic receiptsprescriptions, electronic referrals, and medical documents, or as well as the eProfile, which facilitates promoting the widespread adoption of modern health carehealthcare practices.
The use of the EESZT system has been mandatory since November 2017 for publicly funded healthcare providers and pharmacies. For non-publicly funded healthcare providers – in the case of private providers who are obligated providers, including private practitioners required to provide data to the central implant registry and the prosthesis registry – as well as prosthesis registries, and for the National Ambulance Service, it is became mandatory from 1 November 1, 2018. Thus, Only data will only be entered into the Space after joining , and previous the system is visible in the EESZT, as historical patient data is has not yet visible in EESZT. Private providers who have a valid operating license and perform been incorporated. Since 1 June 2020, private providers with valid operating licences, performing outpatient medical or dental activities, have a data reporting obligation to EESZT from 06.01.2020.also been required to report data to the EESZT.
(EESZT, n.d.-a; EESZT, n.d.-b)
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The National eHealth Infrastructure (EESZT) is a central centralised IT system that has set the foundations for ensuring designed to enable seamless communication between healthcare service providers in Hungary.
According to the EESZT official website, most hospitals ' systems in Hungary are have their systems integrated with the EESZT system and therefore data that are added to the patients' records in the hospital EHR are automatically added also EESZT. This integration ensures that data added to patient records in a hospital's electronic health record (EHR) system is automatically uploaded to the national infrastructure. The EESZT system transfers the each patient's health data of every patient to a central database, which the various health professionals can consult through the corresponding hospital, general practitioner, or pharmacy systems with the appropriate authorisation (e.g. pharmacists can only see prescriptions).As well as professionals, also authorised health professionals—such as hospital staff, general practitioners, or pharmacists—can access through their respective systems. Access is role-based; for example, pharmacists can only view prescription information.
In addition to healthcare professionals, patients can access their personal medical data , through the EESZT citizen portal and also a mobile application which app that is constantly continuously being developed and updated. The platform provides offers patients with a variety wide range of features. Patients can , allowing them to view:
their prescriptions Prescriptions and dispensed medications and , including medical aids
referrals
health Referrals for specialist consultations
Health documents such as outpatient appointment reports and notes, admission, and discharge documents
COVID-related data: , including vaccination certificatecertificates, test certificateresults, and health certificatecertificates. Patients can also book COVID vaccinations
outpatient appointments notes
admissions and discharges documents
test .
Test results
eProfile: this includes , which includes critical health information such as allergies, pregnancy status, and implants. This is the never or rarely-changing profile contains health data rarely subject to change, uploaded by the GP, which and could be life-saving in case the patient’s record is if accessed during emergency care.All events when patients used healthcare in outpatient and inpatient specialist care
Additionally, patients can access an Event Catalogue, which logs all instances when healthcare services were used, whether in outpatient or inpatient facilities or at family doctor services
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. The
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institutions providing care upload this information.
Patients can
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also monitor who has
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accessed their data
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, with general practitioners and treating clinicians
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having authorised access. They can further customise their settings to receive email notifications about specific EESZT events, controlling what data is displayed to physicians based on their permissions and preferences.
( EESZT, n.d. )
Challenges and areas for improvement
The main weaknesses of the platform are:
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ability for patients to input data manually is limited to some specific measurements. Patients can’t add other medical data manually (such as allergies, files etc)
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There’s no ability for patients and professionals to communicate with each other via the platform.
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While the National eHealth Infrastructure (EESZT) has made significant strides in modernising healthcare data management, it still faces several limitations that hinder its full potential. Key areas for improvement include:
Limited Patient Input Capabilities: The platform currently allows patients to input only specific types of health measurements. However, they are unable to manually add other essential medical data, such as allergies, detailed medical histories, or additional health documents (e.g. files or reports).
Lack of Direct Communication Between Patients and Professionals: EESZT does not allow direct communication between patients and healthcare professionals. This missing feature means that patients cannot use the platform to consult or follow up with doctors.
No Device Integration: While patients can upload data extracts from external health devices (e.g., wearable fitness trackers), there is no direct integration between these devices and the EESZT system.
Published outcomes - statistics
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There are more than 6000 active general medical practicionerspractitioners, as well as:
more than 300 outpatient institutions
more than 100 inpatient institutions
more than 3000 pharmacies
more than 8800 private healthcare institutions
The details of more than 600 million receipts have been entered into the EESZT.
An average of 800,000 new electronic prescriptions (ePrescription) are ordered daily.
By June 2020, there was a 90% increase in the monthly prescription of electronic prescriptions.
Annually, 75 million medical documents (e.g. medical records, outpatient data sheets, discharge summaries) and approximately 180 million doctor-patient appointments are recorded online in the EESZT system in Hungary. This amounts to a daily average of 300,000 medical documents recorded in the Infrastructure.”
(EESZT Information portal, 2021)
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