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Hungarians' inventiveness may begin with their language. The language has a complex grammar style that trains cognitive agility. Due to migration then isolation, the language is unrelated to most surrounding European neighbours. The small nation’s speakers have to learn a different language structure to communicate with the rest of the world, further training cognitive agility. John von Neumann (creator of computing architecture), Charles Simonyi (creator of Microsoft Office) and Andrew Grove (co-founder of Intel) are all Hungarian-American technologists.
Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell
The Hungarian health system operates under a Hungary’s single health insurance fund, covering covers nearly all residents, though its service range . Its range of services is more limited compared to other EU European Union countries.
Since 2011, reforms have centralised the system, with the national government overseeing strategic direction, financing, regulations, and most specialist and inpatient care. The Ministry of Human Capacities manages the system through the National Healthcare Service Centre (ÁEEK), which coordinates care, plans hospitals, and oversees licensing. In 2012, the central government took control of local hospitals from county and municipal authorities, with ÁEEK managing these state-owned facilities.
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.
Healthcare delivery is predominantly hospital-based, with the national government directly managing hospitals and providing most inpatient and outpatient services, though some local governments still operate polyclinics . (World Health Organization, 2023)According to the most recent data from 2010, health .
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.).
Public vs private
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The national PHR
History
The National eHealth Infrastructure and its specialised modules were established within the framework of 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 with support under the Social Infrastructure Operating Programme. Funding was from the European Union and co-funding by the Hungarian State, with a total investment of . Total investment 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 . For example, 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.
The core principle of the system is to interconnect the earlier fragmented healthcare data systems in all of Hungary, and - taking into account foreign examples - collect all data in a central system, thus the operating services of the Infrastructure would allow the various focused on establishing the Electronic Health Service and Data Integration System (EESZT).
EESZT interconnects previously fragmented healthcare data systems across the country and. It collects all data into a central system. This enables 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 . These promote the widespread adoption of modern health carehealthcare practices.
The use of EESZT usage has been mandatory since November 2017 for publicly funded healthcare providers and pharmacies. For nonNon-publicly funded healthcare providers – in the case of private providers who are obligated to providers (including private practitioners) must provide data to the central implant registry and the prosthesis registry – as well as prosthesis registries, and for the National Ambulance Service, it is mandatory from November 1, since November 2018. Thus, data will only be entered into the Space after joining, and previous patient data is not yet visible in EESZT. Private providers who have a valid operating license and perform Since 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).
Historical patient data has not yet been incorporated, so only data entered after joining the system is visible.
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Features
The National eHealth Infrastructure (EESZT) is a central IT system that has set the foundations for ensuring communication between healthcare service providers.
According to the EESZT official website, most hospitals' systems in Hungary are integrated with the EESZT system and therefore data that are added to the patients' records in the hospital EHR are automatically added also to the national infrastructure.
The EESZT system transfers the 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 patients can access their personal medical data, through the citizen portal and also a mobile application which is constantly being developed and updated.
The platform provides patients with a variety of features. Patients can view:
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their prescriptions and dispensed medications and medical aids
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referrals
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health documents
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Most hospitals in Hungary integrated with EESZT (EESZT official website). This integration automatically uploads nationally data added locally in a hospital's electronic health record (EHR). Authorised health professionals—such as hospital staff, general practitioners, or pharmacists—can access from EESZT through their respective systems. Access is role-based; for example, pharmacists can only view prescription information.
Patients can access their medical data through the EESZT citizen portal and mobile app. Features include seeing:
Prescriptions and dispensed medications, including medical aids.
Referrals for specialist consultations.
Health documents such as outpatient appointment reports and notes, admission, and discharge documents.
COVID-related data, including vaccination certificates, test results, and health certificates. Patients can also book COVID vaccinations
outpatient appointments notes
admissions and discharges documents
test results
eProfile: this includes .
Test results.
eProfile, 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
The Event Catalogue shows the patient a log of all healthcare service usage, whether in outpatient or inpatient facilities or at family doctor services
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.
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Patients can
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also monitor who has
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accessed their data. They can customise 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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Key areas for improvement include:
Limited Patient Input Capabilities: The platform currently allows patients to input data manually is limited to some specific measurements. Patients can’t add other medical data manually (limited types of health measurements. They are unable to manually add other essential medical data, such as allergies, files etc)
There’s no ability for patients and professionals to communicate with each other via the platform.
there is no device integrations, i.e. patients can contribute to the record data from their device by uploading a file which contains the data extract from the device, but there is no possibility to connect the device to the record.
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. So patients cannot use the platform to consult or follow up with doctors.
No Device Integration: While patients can manually enter data measured by external health devices (e.g., wearable fitness trackers), there is no direct integration between these devices and the EESZT system.
(PKB interviews, 2024)
Published outcomes - statistics
The latest statistics are from the 19th of April 2021 and are available at https://web.archive.org/web/20210419151255/https://e-egeszsegugy.gov.hu/web/eeszt-information-portal/the-role-of-the-eeszt-in-hungarian-healthcare.
“Today, more than 26 thousand health professionals and 13 thousand pharmacy staff uses the system in Hungary. Starting from 2020, more than 22,000 institutions have access to the EESZT infrastructure, including private service providers.
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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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UGYFELKAPU which is the Citizen Portal for Hungarians
Electronic National ID
Citizen Portal+
via Phone
Face-to-face
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Carer functionality
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Patient history: documents by private professionals, GPs, hospitals, etc.
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e-Referrals
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e-Profile
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Prescriptions
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eGYSE
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~CodingsCodings
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Mobile application help page
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Folders menu:
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Bibliography
EESZT.
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, n.d
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. The Role of the EESZT in Hungarian Healthcare. Available at: https://e-egeszsegugy.gov.hu/web/eeszt-information-portal/the-role-of-the-eeszt-in-hungarian-healthcare
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(
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accessed 13 September 2023).
EESZT.
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, n.d
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. Citizen Portal - Main Page. Available at: https://www.eeszt.gov.hu/hu/nyito-oldal
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(
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accessed 13 September 2023).
EESZT.
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, n.d
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. EESZT Information Portal - The History of EESZT. Available at: https://e-egeszsegugy.gov.hu/web/eeszt-information-portal/history-of-eeszt
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(
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accessed 13 September 2023).
World Health Organization, 2023. Hungary: Country Overview.
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(online
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) Available at: https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/countries/hungary (
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accessed 13 September 2023).