Hungary awash with healthcare funds?:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
While some EU states are intent on clawing back increases in healthcare spending (France, for example, restricting its rise to just 3.2% next year), Hungarian health minister, Jeno Racz has announced that the Hungarian healthcare fund is going to increase by 8.5% to over Forint 1.5 trillion (euro6billion - $7.9billion). The biggest increase will go to inpatient care, while outpatient care and district practices are to benefit from more modest rises in their budget. Not only will the sector benefit from an increase in its budget, it has also received some Forint 19.9bn funding from the European Regional Development Fund, which is to be supplemented by Forint 6.6bn in local co-financing. Experience throughout Europe has shown that increased budgets fail to result in a better quality service unless the necessary management tools are also put in place. It remains to be seen how wisely this money will be spent and whether the introduction of a new DRG system and the emphasis on day surgery will help rationalise expenditure.
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