OBJECTIVES : Mortality data might be considered as an important evaluation indicator used at the quality assessment of health care systems. In the public-funded Hungarian health care system, these data are available publicly since the past few years. The aim of the study was to analyse the mortality rates of public-funded inpatient care between 2014-2018.

METHODS : A retrospective, quantitative research has been conducted in Hungary between 2014-2018. The database contained mortality rates by years in the public-funded Hungarian inpatient health care system by counties, as well as the related medical professions. The annual mortality rate by counties and medical professions were evaluated. The study database was provided by the National Health Insurance Fund Administration of Hungary.

RESULTS : The mortality rate did not change significantly during the study period. The lowest mortality rate has been identified in 2014 (2.55%), and the highest in 2018 (2.83%). The highest mortality rate has been measured in Heves county (3.81%) and the lowest in Baranya county (2.04%). Those counties which have university clinical centre, the mortality rate was much below than the national average between 2014-2018 (2.69%). In the viewpoint of medical professions, intensive care (18.71%), pulmonology (7.52%), internal medicine (7.24%), as well as neurology (4.10%) produced the highest mortality rates, while this indicator in emergency care (2.52%), clinical oncology (2.41%), and surgery (1.47%) were below than the national average rate of mortality.

CONCLUSIONS : The mortality rates showed significant differences from a territorial viewpoint, and also from medical professions. While the mortality rates in intensive care unit and in other internal medicine professions were the highest, in other medical fields this indicator was below the national mean.