OBJECTIVES: The new act on developing of the Hungarian health care system – came into effect on the 1st of April 2007 cut the number of hospital beds significantly in Hungary. The aim of our paper is to analyze the effect of current Hungarian health care reform on the number of acute care hospital beds at regional level. METHODS: Data were derived from the nationwide administrative dataset of the National Health Insurance Fund Administration (OEP), the only health care financing agency in Hungary. We carefully review the formal legislation and informal background papers related to this issue. The number of hospital beds were evaluated before and after 1st of April 2007. RESULTS: The new act on developing of the Hungarian health care system cut the acute care hospital beds by 17,000 (28 %) from 60,000 to 43,000 (from 59.2 to 43.7 beds per 10,000 inhabitants). The number of acut care hospital beds per 10000 inhabitants was the following before the reforms: Central-Hungary: 67.2; Southern-Transdanubia: 60.5; Northern-Greatplane: 59.4; Southern-Greatplane: 58.3; Northern-Hungary: 55.9; Western-Transdanubia: 53.3; Central-Transdanubia: 47.3. The number of acut care hospital beds per 10000 inhabitants slightly changed after the reforms: Central-Hungary: 48.3; Northern-Greatplane: 44.7; Southern-Transdanubia: 44.0; Northern-Hungary: 42.8; Southern-Greatplane: 42.6; Western-Transdanubia: 38.8; Central-Transdanubia: 37.2. We did not find significant changes among regions. CONCLUSIONS: Although the new legislation reduced the number of acute care hospital beds significantly in Hungary, there were no significant changes in the regional distribution.