Patient-centred care in Hungary: Contributions to foster a policy agenda

Abstract

In Hungary, the National Health Insurance Fund provides health care coverage for nearly all residents, but healthcare spending is below the EU’s average (6.4% versus 9.9% of the GDP in 2019, respectively). In 1997, patients’ rights were established by laws of the healthcare system. The patients’ voice, however, has remained weakly embedded in decision-making processes both on the system and individual patient levels. Policy progress achieved in the past years may foster patient-centeredness in health policy decision-making. However, people-reported data are not yet embedded in the Hungarian health information system and national population or household surveys, thus undermining the monitoring of the performance of the health system regarding patient-centred aspects. From the academic research side, several advances have occurred regarding the availability of validated instruments for the measurement of patient-centred aspects. These recent studies have placed Hungary in a uniquely advanced position compared with other countries in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. The use of those instruments in clinical guidelines and practices, to the education curricula of future health workers, is still in an early stage.