Based on Estonian, Swedish and Catalonian examples, the e-prescription has been introduced also in Hungary thanks to EU funding. Basically, this means that the paper-based prescriptions currently in use will be replaced by an electronic registration system from November 1, 2017.
The e-prescription operates under the Electronic Health Service Space (Elektronikus Egészségügyi Szolgáltatási Tér, EESZT).
The EESZT is a communication space to which administrative bodies are obliged to join. These are: the National Health Insurance Fund Management, the Ministry of Human Resources, and the National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition.
In this system, treating physicians and general practitioners have to record their tasks as defined by law and other information (including the event underlying data entry, personal identification data, as well as the health status, medical history and medication documentation of the patient).
This system can be used for retrieving the patients' medical history (including ambulatory care reports and final reports), but due to the particularly sensitive nature of the data, only physicians can download information from the system.
The purpose of the e-prescription is, on the one hand, to provide transparency and traceability (for example, to know whether the patient has fulfilled the obligation to acquire the medicines prescribed by the doctor) and on the other hand, to avoid medicine abuse.
From November 1, 2017, only those will receive a traditional paper-based prescription from their doctor who ask for it, otherwise the doctor will issue an electronic prescription.
In general, everyone can get only the medicines specifically prescribed for them. Relatives of the persons concerned may also get the medications, but only on the basis of paper-based prescriptions.
In case of e-prescriptions, the medications prescribed for use by the customer can be handed over only after his/her social security card or eID card has been checked (the chip on the latter already contains recorded data including social security number and tax number), but the possession of an eID card is not necessarily required.
In the pharmacy only the patient's e-prescription data can be retrieved.
Importantly, the GP's assistant can no longer make prescriptions, and e-prescription can be entered in the system only by the doctor.
By entering their social security number through the EESZT Civil Portal, private individuals having Customer Portal registration can query data on their own medical history, prescriptions, appointments, and within the framework of digital self-determination, through the EESZT Civil Portal or with the help of an administrator of any government window, they can keep track of persons having requested access to their data recorded in the EESZT as well as the date of requests, and they can control access.