[Health policy experiences of publicly financed laboratory services in Hungary with health insurance data analysis].

Introduction: In order to provide appropriate prevention, diagnosztics, decision on therapy and monitoring the results of medical treatment, there is an increasing need for laboratory examinations. Aim: The aim of our study is the health-ecnomics analysis of laboratory budget of the Hungarian Health Insurance Fund. Data and method: Data were derived from the financial database of the National Health Insurance Fund Administration. The analysis covered the period of 2002-2018. We analysed the annual budget for laboratory examinations, the number of patients and examinations, the market share of laboratory services providers according to their owner structure from the health insurance curative-preventive budget. Results: The budget available for financing the laboratory examinations (21-22 billion Hungarian forint (Ft)/ev) did not change significantly between 2005 and 2015. There was a significant decrease in the number of both patients and examinations between 2006 and 2008. In the latest years, there were 14-15 million cases per year and 180 million examinations per year. The market share of for-profit companies decreased from 29.0% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2018, while the market share of governmental institutions increased from 27.1% in 2010 to 78.7% in 2018. Conclusion: The activity of laboratories was stabilized in the latest years. After the necessary correction of professional regulations and code maintenance, the laboratory budget can be increased towards the mainly public laboratory services providers.