OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to map the privately financed service of the Hungarian publicly funded active inpatient healthcare providers by medical fields.

METHODS: The retrospective analyses data derived from the nationwide financial database of National Health Insurance Fund Management. Based on inpatient care in 2017, we calculate the DRG weight number, case number, and proportion of privately financed services according to medical fields by descriptive statistical method. The correlation between the weight number, case number and bed numbers of the privately financed services is evaluated by Pearson's correlation coefficient in all fields.

RESULTS: The total DRG weight number in 2017 was 2,444,223, of which 6,160 (0.25%) were of privately financed services. The total DRG case number in 2017 was 1,233,389 of which 7,157 (0.57%) were of privately financed services. The five medical fields with highest DRG weight and their proportion: Obstetrics and gynaecology (1980.4; 1.02%), Orthopedic-traumatology (824; 0,29%), Surgery (807.6; 0.29%), Anaesthesiology and Intensive therapy (470.3, 0.26%), Pediatrics (357; 0.21%). These five professions account for 72.5% of out of pocket payments. The five medical fields with highest DRG cases number and their proportion: Obstetrics and gynaecology (1674; 0.49%), Pediatrics (1342; 0.62%), Emergency (1020; 0.78%), Surgery (994; 0.47%), Orthopedic-traumatology (840; 0.47%). These five professions account for 65% of out of pocket payments. The privately financed health care relationship shows a moderately strong correlation between total inpatient health care in both weight and case number (R=0.552, p=0.006 and R=0.627, p=0.001), but no significant relationship exists between privately financed services and bed number.

CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences between the medical fields are not determined by bed capacities, but rather by the national use and the epidemiological effects behind it, which require further investigation.