Prevalence and direct health cost of mental diseases in Hungary - analysis of the National Health Insurance Fund’s data

Abstract

Introduction According to international publications the burden of mental diseases is considered to be significant and rising. Objectives Scope of analysis is to present 1) patient numbers and 2) direct mental health costs from the database of the National Health Insurance Fund Hungary for patients with F00-F99 ICD code between 2015-2019. Methods An Oracle database was created with direct mental care costs for each patient in a given year with a three-digit ICD code and type of care (primary, specialist, prescribing) and handled via sql queries. Data on capacity and performance came from the NHIF and NSO website for 2008-2019 and were handled via Microsoft Excel. Results Mental problems affected 3 million people (more than 30% of the population) in a five year period, though patient numbers are continuously declining. Almost half of the patients only visit a general practitioner and don’t get a prescription. There is also a drop in proportional mental spending which has fallen from 5,03% to 4,02%. This tendency is accordance with international findings. There is a dramatic fall of inpatient cases and a growing number of outpatient interventions, though we see a move from individual therapy sessions to group interventions and a decline in specialist psychotherapy sessions. We can see a shift towards more young patients both in inpatient and outpatient setting. Conclusions The analysis raises the question whether declining patient numbers and shrinking proportional spending are due to smaller provider capacities and unmet need or a mentally healthier population. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• mental health patient numbers
• mental health costs
• direct mental health care spending
• mental care costs Hungary