Health Systems in Transition - Hungary - World Health Organization ...

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Health systems in transition Hungary
In the area of personal health services, there are three National Institutes
with methodological, supervisory and coordination roles. The National
Institute for Child Health collects and analyses data on children’s health;
conducts research; performs methodological and administrative tasks;
provides information and education; and assists in organizing, financing
and ensuring the quality of provision in children’s health care. The National
Institute of Primary Health Care is responsible for supervising the provision
of primary care and monitoring the health status of the population based on
reports submitted by primary care providers. The main task of the National
Centre for Health Care Audit and Inspection (NCHAI) is to supervise the
activities of health care providers by monitoring the quality of their health
services, as well as their adherence to legal regulations, clinical guidelines and
professional norms, through regular inspections and clinical audits (2010/6). In
addition to managing, coordinating and controlling the work of the system for
supervising health care professionals (2005/2), the NCHAI is also responsible
for the surveillance of non-communicable diseases and for running the National
Register of Congenital Disorders. The NCHAI has three specialized centres: the
Centre for Rare Diseases, the National Centre for Psychiatry and the National
Centre for Addictive Disorders (2010/6).
Until 2007 the areas of occupational health and food safety also fell within
the remit of the NPHMOS. As part of its plan to introduce managed competition
to Hungary’s single-payer health insurance system, the government in power
from 2006 to 2010 began to shrink considerably the scope of its public health
and health administration functions. The HISA was established and the agencies
of occupational health and food safety were put under the control of other
ministries (see subsection A third attempt to introduce managed competition to
the health insurance system and subsection The Health Insurance Supervisory
Authority in section 6.1.1). Since 1995, employers have been responsible for
financing occupational health services (1995/8). Whereas larger employers
maintain and run their own services, smaller employers can contract with
occupational health care providers on a private basis. The NPHMOS used to
exercise control over occupational safety, supervise occupational health care at
the employer level and provide specialist occupational care through the National
Institute of Occupational Health. With the exception of professional supervision,
these functions, together with the National Institute of Occupational Health,
were transferred in 2007 to the Labour Inspectorate of the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labour (2006/15).