Milena Gajić-Stevanović, Persia Simonovic and Ivan Stevanovic
Introduction: The European Health Consumer Index (EHCI) was founded as a project in 2006, and it has since been working on comparing and ranking the health systems of the European countries. Its main aim is to set standards for well-functioning and organization of health care from the perspective of patients (consumers) - users of the health system. Their assessment of the health system is based on forty-eight pre-determined indicators, divided into six groups. Countries are ranked with scores ranging from 1 to 3 [1]. The aim of this study was to assess the state of Serbian health care system in 2014 and 2015 and compare with neighboring countries, from the perspective of European health consumer index and propose recommendations for its improvement in accordance with the norms of European standards. Methods: A retrospective and comparative analysis of data on Serbian and neighboring countries healthcare system fuctioning in 2014 and 2015, based on the European Health Consumer Index indicators was performed. Results: The Republic of Serbia, according to the European Health Consumer Index, was ranked 33rd. in 2014 among selected European countries, with 473 points, while in 2015 was ranked 30 with 554 points. Conclusions and Recommendations: In order to get closer to European Union countries’ standards and to satisfy users of the health care system in the Serbia, the accessibility to diagnostic procedures, major elective surgery, cancer therapy, long term care for elderly and preventive activities should be improved, like FYR Macedonia already achieved.
