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

Health systems in transition Hungary 25
or praxisjog) (2000/1, 2) (see section 2.8.2 for more details). The government
also offered subsidized loans to family doctors to help them buy facilities and
equipment from local governments (2000/2).
On 1 January 2001, a new Minister of Health was appointed, who regained
control of the NHIFA from the Ministry of Finance (2000/10). Act LXIII
of 1996, which had introduced a needs-based formula to determine health
care capacities, was repealed (2001/5), and a 10-year public health action
programme was elaborated to increase the life expectancy of men and women
to 70 and 78 years, respectively (2001/9) (see subsection Intersectorality and
public health in section 6.1.1). The reform of the delivery system continued
with the encouragement of the corporatization of public providers (2001/12)
(see subsection Ownership and management of health care providers in
section 6.1.1).
The Hungarian Socialist Party and the Alliance of Free Democrats were
voted back into power in May 2002. A substantial pay rise was introduced for
public employees, including health care professionals (2002/16). This increase
of about 50% and an extra bonus for nurses aimed to reduce the exodus of
health care professionals. Later, the social status of non-medical health care
personnel was also raised by establishing the Chamber of Non-Medical Health
Professionals (2003/18).
The government eliminated some of the restrictions on the privatization of
facilities delivering health care (2002/16, 17) and gave more room for private
investment in the health care system (2003/5, 2003/6). However, the impact
of the new regulation on the delivery system was curtailed, as it was later
annulled by the Constitutional Court (2003/23) (see subsection Ownership and
management of health care providers in section 6.1.1).
Starting in 2002, more emphasis was placed on health planning and
prevention (see subsection Intersectorality and public health in section 6.1.1).
The government also encouraged regional health planning by forming regional
health councils and elaborating regional health plans (2003/4, 2004/11) (see
subsection Capacity regulation in section 6.1.1).
Between 2004 and 2007, major reforms and initiatives focused on reshaping
stewardship and organization in the Hungarian health care system. This
included another (unsuccessful) attempt to introduce managed competition to
the SHI system; strengthening the CCS, launched as a pilot programme in
1999 but ultimately abandoned in 2008; introducing new capacity regulations
for providers; supporting the corporatization of providers and the outsourcing