OBJECTIVES : Nowadays waiting-lists and waiting times are still important issues in most countries. There are many interventions in the Hungarian health care system which have waiting-list obligations and could be performed in one-day surgery form. The aim of the research is to analyze, the role of one-day surgery in the waiting-list reduction process in Hungary.

METHODS : The database of this research was provided by the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary. It included all of the public financed cases which are related to waiting lists in Hungary (WHO codes, denomination of interventions, reimbursement categories, as well as the type of the health care services) between 2010-2017. The change of case numbers, and the market share of health care services (inpatient/ one-day surgery) related to waiting-lists were also analyzed. Waiting times and waiting cases related to different waiting-lists were not included in this database.

RESULTS : 1,719,349 waiting-list cases were performed between 2010-2017. The market share of inpatient cases was significant (71%) in the analyzed period. Inpatient cases in 2017 decreased more than 20% compared to cases from 2010, while one-day surgery cases increased significantly at the same time (297%). Besides most of the performed cases were provided in inpatient form. There were waiting lists which had a constantly increasing utilization of the one-day surgery form. The market share of one-day surgery in cataract waiting-lists was remarkable. In 2010 the market share of one-day surgery was only 34%, however in 2017 it was 90%. Regarding to the transurethral prostate surgery the rate of one-day surgery increased from 29% to 45% between 2010-2017.

CONCLUSIONS : The utilization of one-day surgery in waiting-list process has been increasing since 2011. According to our results, one-day surgery might play a significant role in cataract waiting-list reduction.