Telemedicine in outpatient pediatric care in Hungary

Abstract

Telemedicine is one possible form of specialized outpatient care. In recent years, with the development of information communication technology, it is increasingly available. The COVID-19 epidemic and social distancing rules accelerated its spread, also in Hungary. There is a huge amount of information available in the international literature regarding the applicability of telemedicine in pediatric pathologies. By analyzing the financing database of publicly funded care in Hungary, domestic practice can be compared with foreign experiences, especially in terms of care, age, disease groups, and territorial inequality. After the statistical analysis, it can be concluded that there is no correlation between age and the use of telemedicine. Although telemedicine is expected to reduce regional inequalities, based on the data, it can be concluded that there are regional differences in the telemedicine care itself, and even these are different in terms of disease groups. Contrary to expectations, there is no preponderance of people living in small settlements among the users.