OBJECTIVES : The increased utility of one-day surgery is a common phenomenon throughout the world. One-day surgery in Hungary has been developing from the last decade, because the health policy of the Hungarian Government is committed to unburden the costly inpatient care of the country. The aim of the study is to measure the market share of one-day surgery among Hungarian universities between 2010-2018.

METHODS : The database was provided by the National Healthcare Services Center and the National Health Insurance Fund Administration of Hungary. The database of the research consisted of all publicly financed DRG cost-weight of one-day surgery, the DRG cost-weight of general and surgical treatment, as well the DRG cost-weight of those inpatient cases which did not belong to the Performance Volume Limit (hereinafter: non PVL) financing method.

RESULTS : The increase of annual DRG cost-weight of one-day surgery was remarkable between 2010-2018, because it exceeded 400% (2010: 10,588; 2018: 42,939). The market share of one-day surgery DRGs compared to the non PVL DRGs was only 15% in 2010, however it increased up to 67% in the year of 2018. This indicator was one of the lowest in 2010 at the University of Pécs (8%), but in 2018 it increased up to 85%, which is one of the highest rate in this regard. In 2010 247,714 DRG cost-weight were performed by the Hungarian universities in surgical treatment from which the market share of one-day surgery was only 4% (10,588 DRG cost-weight). In 2018 this indicator increased significantly; the market share of one-day surgery was 15% (DRG cost-weight of one-day surgery: 42,939).

CONCLUSIONS : Based on our results we could conclude that, the one-day surgery could play more and more important role among Hungarian universities, so it could be an appropriate alternative to unburden the high costs of inpatient care.