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Acceptability of the electronic health insurance card to practising physicians

Janko Kersnik

Background: Cost containment in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe is a key issue in healthcare reforms. The electronic health insurance card is a potential method for controlling Ž nancial ? ow in a healthcare system. The Slovene National Insurance Institute has launched a project to introduce health insurance cards. Aim Analysis of the acceptability of health insurance cards to practising hysicians, and the differences between primary and secondary care physicians’ opinions about the health insurance card.Method: The survey was carried out using the computer-assisted method of telephone interviewing (CATI). The interviews were collected from a random sample of practising physicians in Slovenia, in September 2000.Results: Forty-seven percent of the interviews were carried out successfully. More than half of the interviewees (57.4%) reported positive experiences with the use of the patient health insurance cardand with the use of the professional insurance card.In comparison with secondary care physicians, primary care physicians evaluated their own experiences more positively (P 0.001), and 51.1% also said that the health insurance card made their job easier (P 0.001). The professionals assessed the security of the card to be high and they favued new technology over the old health booklet system. The professionals believed that the health insurance card would evolve into a comprehensive health card, and over three-quarters believed that better Ž nancial discipline would result from the new technology.Conclusions: The health insurance card was acceptable to healthcare providers, and in particular to primary care physicians