Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Digital Solutions of Healthcare in Hungary

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the short-, medium- and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on digitalization processes, primarily through the example of the Hungarian healthcare. The main task was to explore how the pandemic affected the Hungarian healthcare services both of public (state) and private providers and what role healthcare digitalization played in this. The investigation contained a questionnaire survey which was conducted among private healthcare providers in 2024. The findings were supplemented by statistical analysis, literature review, document analysis and interviewing. Among the results, it can be mentioned that the pandemic accelerated the rapid and widespread spread of telemedicine in Hungary, and also resulted in the effective interaction of public and private healthcare, and thirdly, through private investments, serious developments were made in the application of telemedicine even before the pandemic which were also strengthened by the effects of the coronavirus epidemic. In addition to private investments, the Hungarian public – state – healthcare has also made significant developments in the application of telemedicine. All of these interventions in the digitalization processes of healthcare are still noticeable today due to the impact of the pandemic and will stay with us in the long-term. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, delivery of healthcare, digitalization, telemedicine, Hungary