PNS116 TERRITORIAL DISTRIBUTION OF CASE NUMBERS RELATED TO THE HUNGARIAN WAITING- LIST REDUCTION PROGRAM BETWEEN 2015-2018

Abstract

Waiting lists are subject to interest throughout the world. The National Health Insurance Fund Administration established a waiting list reduction program in 2015 with the aim to significantly shorten waiting list cases and waiting times. The goal of the study is to analyze the territorial distribution of cases within the waiting list reduction program. The database covered the period of 2015-2018, and contained all public-funded cases, which were financed in the above-mentioned program. The database also contained information about the patients’ place of residence, the localization of responsible healthcare institutes, as well as the distance between the responsible hospitals and the patients’ place of residence. The database was provided by the National Health Insurance Fund Administration of Hungary, and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. For the statistical analyzes and the geographical representations the Microsoft Excel and the Quantum GIS software were used. Between 2015-2018. 24,771 cases were financed within the waiting-list reduction program in Hungary. In most cases the patient was female (63%). Nationwide 77% of the cases were treated in the patients’ county of residence (19,064 cases). Among the counties, this rate was the highest in Baranya county (97%), and the lowest in Pest county (3%). Between 2015-2018, the number of cases reflected to 10,000 inhabitants was the highest in Baranya county (19.41) and the lowest in Hajdú-Bihar county (0.95), while the national average was 6.14 cases. The average travel-distance of the patients was 136.32 kilometers in those cases which were treated outside of the patients’ county of residence (5,707 cases). The majority of cases were treated in patients’ county of residence. Those interventions which were performed outside of the patients’ county of residence mostly linked at Budapest’s hospitals.