You could even go to jail for thank you money, but the doctors will earn more. However, over time, fingernails are screened for a second job, and those who don’t pay TB can even afford emergency care. These changes will come in the new year in healthcare.

Last fall and winter, in addition to the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, changes that significantly transformed healthcare kept public life buzzing. The new law on the legal status of the health service will make gratuity punishable, but doctors who work in public care will have a significant increase in salaries, although they will be able to eliminate their second jobs and be assigned.

Starting in January, however, we can also expect several major changes in healthcare, which we have compiled.

Thanksgiving money is punished

Under a new law passed in early October last year and subsequently amended through implementing regulations, it is already punishable this year to give or receive gratitude money (so far, doctors who have demanded money in exchange for care have generally been punished) . Whoever falls can be sentenced to one year in prison. Of course, gratitude can be expressed, but employees can only accept benefits in hindsight, up to a maximum of 5 percent of the minimum wage, which is currently HUF 8,000.

We contacted the Hungarian Medical Chamber about how it will be possible to verify compliance with this legislation, which it sent to the Ministry of Human Resources. We send them an email with our questions and, if they respond, we will update the article. Last year, after the law was passed, it was announced that it would be inspected by a designated authority.

Almost all doctors get more money

A multi-stage pay increase for doctors will begin in January. With this, after January 1, 2021, a doctor or other employee in a “health service relationship” who has worked in the field for more than 41 years can expect a gross monthly salary of HUF 1.66 million, but the gross salary of new hires will also approach half a million. . Salary increases will continue at two more rates over the next two years, up to a total of 120 percent.

You must enter the employment relationship, otherwise the work will be there

The pay raise takes effect January 1 for physicians currently working as employees of state or municipality maintained health care providers (church institutions can decide for themselves whether to include their staff here) and They agree to enter the new service. By law, they should have worked on a new contract at the beginning of the year, but due to the emergency, the deadline was postponed. Last year, the Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, promised that the employment contract should be informed once the emergency situation is over, after which there can only be talk of ending it. The government decree issued at the end of November set March 1 as the new deadline for the conclusion of contracts, but depending on the evolution of the epidemic situation, it may even be delayed.

Whoever does not sign the contract will be terminated as an official.

The task is yet to come, but there will be someone who can say no

Under the new law, doctors can also be guided, although this regulation will only come into force once the new contract has been signed. Initially, it could have been ordered for up to two years, but due to great resistance (most doctors would not have signed the new relationship this way) they finally agreed to 44 days. There will also be exceptions: pregnant women with children under 3 years old, large families; Physicians who raise their child alone before the professional examination may refuse the assignment.

Doctors are entitled to additional pay for secondment and other additional work: the draft implementing regulation promised an additional pay of 50% for the duration of the secondment, but the level is not yet clear and will be decided by the Director General of the National Hospital in mid-November.

Separate public and private practices

In the employment relationship, no physician can continue the widespread practice, which is a concern for gratitude money, of treating the same patient in both his public and private practice (except in an emergency). The law’s explanatory memorandum states that doctors in certain specialties, namely obstetricians and gynecologists, could be exempted from it, which the chamber opposed, but the government insists on its position. The details of the regulation are not yet known.

The strict conflict of interest rules also mean that doctors can only accept a second job with a permit. It is not yet clear on what basis they will be allowed, we also asked the ministry via email. Related to this, health expert Gabriella Lantos previously said on hvg.hu’s public podcast Fülkék that it is important to decide transparently and based on clear criteria that not only those around the fire are doing well.

General practitioner salaries will also increase

The Employment Law does not cover primary care workers. However, GPs’ revenues are also increasing, but the exact scope is not yet clear. The government is known to have increased the budget allocation for the general practitioner system by nearly HUF 72 billion (more than 50 percent) in a resolution.

If this amount is actually fully spent on salary increases, it could mean a gross average of an extra million guilders for each of the roughly 6,000 GP visits throughout the year, said Szabolcs Zsigri, general practitioner and member of the Hungarian Medical Chamber, at hvg.hu.

Most internships can normally be managed with a budget of between 1.2 and 1.8 million guilders per month (of which they cover costs and pay their own and employees’ salaries together with contributions), that is, it can be a significant increase. The details are not known, but if it is developed according to the above, Szabolcs Zsigri estimates that doctors will receive 200-300 thousand net per month, and assistants 100-200 thousand guilders more.

We also sent questions to Emmi and the Home Office to clarify the details of the increase.

Other doctors who do not have a general medical examination may attend

Starting January 1, it will be easier for a doctor who does not have a GP exam to start a GP consultation. However, this is not such a big novelty. 4/2000, which also applies to general practitioners. This was already included in decree no.

The essence of the current change is that in such cases an application for equity has had to be filed in such cases, but this will no longer be necessary if there is a GP with anesthesia and intensive care examinations, internal medicine, occupational medicine. , gastroenterology, cardiology, possibly urology, surgery, or rheumatology. . Another issue is that it is really not worth it for hospital doctors to go to see a GP, especially after the current salary increase, and given the uncertainties affecting the GP system, Szabolcs Zsigri said.

They have to pay for shoe care.

Anyone who does not pay social security for six months will only receive deferred medical care if they pay the full price of it, and even the cost of emergency care will be reduced according to an August Emmi decree. Although the provisions in this regard have already entered into force in the summer of 2020, since the six-month default is calculated from July, on January 1, the shoes can cope with the fact that hospitals, specialists and GPs charge them for the service. In principle, they can claim the same rate that they would receive from the National Health Insurance Fund Administrator (NEAK) (but not more than 750,000 HUF) if the patient had a valid Taj number.

Of course, not everyone is sure to pay attention to them. Szabolcs Zsigri, for example, said who would take the opportunity to set a zero guilder fee. He is not afraid of losing much of this, as he has not met such a patient so far, furthermore, he does not receive more than 600 HUF in reimbursement from the health insurance company for outpatient care of a patient who does not belong to his own practice. but it is insured.

There is no exact data on how many stray passengers there may be, although in the summer, the World Economy wrote that in 2019, NEAK knew more than 532,000 people who should have asked to pay the contributions.

Our picture illustration

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Centralized hospitals

The government also passed regulations on health care reform in the closing days of last year. Under these, the other institutions in and around the capital were classified into three central hospitals, and the number of national institutes was cut in half.


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