Keywords: primary healthcare, Slovenia, Accessibility, Digital service
Setting:
Primary healthcare is the cornerstone of population health, and Slovenia’s publicly funded system envisions every individual having a personal primary care physician. However, despite media reports on service availability issues, citizens often struggle to access and interpret relevant data. The project covers the entire population of Slovenia, coverage shown by regions and municipalities.
Target group:
The target population are all users of healthcare services in Slovenia (every citizen needs a personal primary care physician), as well as the Health Insurance Institut of Slovenia (the only, state owned health insurance company in Slovenia) and last but not least - the Medical Chamber of Slovenia.
Description of the innovative practice or project:
The “Zdravniki Sledilnik” portal (https://zdravniki.sledilnik.org) is a publicly available resource that helps citizens locate a personal primary care physician. Building on the success of its map-based interface—designed to help users find physicians still accepting new patients—we harnessed the available data to provide a comprehensive overview of Slovenia’s primary care network. A dynamic, colorful dashboard was developed to display the key performance indicators of primary care.
Evaluation:
Our work produced four interactive charts: one chart compares the number of patients entitled to a personal physician with those who doesn’t have one; another displays a country map highlighting areas with low primary care coverage; a third line chart identifies age groups at risk; and a fourth chart compares the performance of concessionaires (private providers who are part of the public system - have a contract with the National health insurance company) with publicly owned community health care centers.
Next Steps:
This interactive visualization enhances the understanding of primary care network performance for all participants. It empowers citizens to critically engage with health information and supports the formulation of data-driven policies to further improve the healthcare system.
Lessons learned:
Despite the difficulty of accessing actual public data, perseverance, persistence, and creativity pay off.
#48
EQuiP is open to both Individual and Organizational Memberships. EQuiP offers a platform to improve the knowledge base and to improve closer collaboration between GPs / Family Doctors, researchers, educators, policy makers and organisations involved in quality and safety in family medicine and primary care.
