In today’s world digitisation is becoming prevalent in practically all areas of life. The system overhauling the Hungarian health care system aims at maximising the speed, efficiency and service-oriented approach of public health care. The key to this is continuous contact between health care institutions, therapists and pharmacies, ensuring that information is consistent and accessible to all eligible participants.
Therapists and pharmacists will continue to use the same computer systems in their work; it is not necessary for them to learn new programs, hence the health care process will not take longer than now. Through the EESZT, however, they gain access to information that you had to store on paper or memorise until now, and present to the therapist during a medical examination.
At the pharmacy, pharmacists can only see pharmaceutical products prescribed for you, including those you filled or forgot to fill earlier. So from now on it will be easier for pharmacists to provide advice as to the pharmaceutical products you should not take simultaneously or to remind you to have your prescription filled.
If you are not yet interested in the EESZT, you are not required to do anything; the health professional will continue to provide care for you, you will still be able to have your prescription drugs filled, or you can ask a relative or friend to do it for you.
If, however, you are interested in the digital world, many new services will become accessible for you. On the Citizen Portal (after Client Gate identification and entry of your Social Security Number (TAJ)) you have access to all data and documents generated in relation to your health care. You can track the course of your own health care, view all of your prescriptions and referrals, and eProfile data that summarise never or rarely changing data characterising you to ensure that your therapist has these available as soon as possible in case of emergency care. On this platform, within the framework of digital patient consent you can choose who can access your data.
The option of digital patient consent is provided under provisions of Act XLVII of 1997 on the processing and protection of health care and related personal data as amended by Act CCXXIV of 2015. Within the framework of digital patient consent, everyone has the option to track who and when requested access to his/her data recorded in the EESZT through the www.eeszt.gov.hu portal or with the administrator of any Government Service Centre. You can set to receive notification of the registration of new data related to you, and if you feel it is necessary, you can set restrictions and permissions for the querying person or with regard to certain data. If you do not exercise this option, the restrictions currently in effect will be valid.
Your patient data can only be seen by your general practitioner and therapist, while particularly sensitive data, such as data on sexually transmitted diseases (STD), psychiatric or drug dependence treatments can only be accessed by the therapist working in the given field. Digital patient consent is available from 15 February 2017.
Healthcare continues to be provided on the basis of social security. The patients’ proof of identity and the Social Security Number (TAJ) are required for identification, which is why you do not necessarily need to have an e-ID card. In order to use e-Health services on the platform of the Citizen Portal, you also do not need an e-ID card, but you must have a Client Gate ID. Patient identification based on the e-ID card will be gradually introduced at healthcare providers, with which it will no longer be necessary to present the TAJ card during patient admission, as the TAJ number is also accessible from the document’s storage element.
In the short term you will observe the acceleration of the health care process, as the providers can access your patient data, recent medical records, eReferrals and ePrescriptions with the push of a button. Your data are stored in a system of priority security level 5, and at any time you can keep track of who and when queried your specific data from which institution. You can have your prescriptions filled even if you forgot them at home. As part of the developments planned in the near future, medical records and patient data from the past 5 years will be included in the system, so lost or forgotten medical histories will be available to your therapist, who will be able to provide a significantly more reliable diagnosis and more effective treatment.
Updated: 12.11.2020.