Economic Evaluation Of Health Care Utilization In The Slovak Republic

Due to the economic changes and fast progress in health technologies countries face the challenge of rapidly growing health expenditures. Drug policies focus on identification of the most problematic areas for implementation of cost-effective measures. For this purpose, they need to be provided with accurate analyses of health expenditures and drug utilization.Primary aim of this study was to analyze health expenditures of Slovak Republic in regards to factors, which are considered to have the largest influence on provision of health care. Secondarily we focused on providing a brief drug utilization analysis. Our study confirmed that since 2000 Slovakia invests a larger share of GDP in health care, while in 2013 overall health expenditure amounted 5.6 million EUR (7.6% of GDP). Despite recent growth (233.6 % since 2000), Slovakia remains under OECD average in regards to health expenditures per capita (PPP, USD). However, it is on the 2nd place among V4 countries. Patients’ share of the overall health expenditures is increasing 12.8 times faster than public reimbursement. Up to 1.5 million EUR was spent on pharmaceuticals in 2013. The most utilized group of drugs in terms of DIDs and sales were cardiovascular drugs.