A new government decree from October 2024 mandates that starting in January 2025, the Hungarian government takes over the provision of hospital information systems (HIS) from market actors in publicly funded, state-run inpatient and outpatient care institutions.
Providers must transition to a uniform HIS, with full implementation required by 1 January 2026 [1]. This regulatory change follows the acquisition of an HIS by the state, which will serve as the standard system under the new regulation [2]. Planning is underway with the involvement of the National Directorate General for Hospitals and the affected institutions [3].
The centralization aims to standardize data management of collected health data, foster interoperability, and enable the creation of structured datasets, which in turn would facilitate the further use of data, including processing by artificial intelligence [3]. The decree does not apply to non-state-run providers, including medical universities, churches, and municipality-run institutions, but they may voluntarily adopt the system, as announced by the responsible ministry [3].