Health expenditure in Estonia 2019
30 OCTOBER 2020
In 2019, health expenditure in Estonia increased by 9% to 1.89 billion euros. Public sector expenditures increased by 10% and household out-of-pocket payments on health care by 6%, according to recent statistics from the National Institute for Health Development (NIHD).
Expenditures of the public sector, i.e. the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, the central government and local governments, grew faster in 2019 than expenditures of households. The share of the public sector in health expenditure increased by 132 million euros and household expenditure increased by 27 million euros over the year. Households' own contribution to health expenditure was 23.9%, compared to 24.5% a year earlier. "Estonia is still close to the critical limit of household out-of-pocket payment share (25%), above which difficulties may arise in paying for medical care, dental care, medicines and other services and goods necessary for life," commented Mare Ruuge, senior analyst of the health statistics department at the NIHD. The share of people's own contribution to health expenditures in Estonia has remained relatively at the same level over the last ten years and has been significantly higher than the WHO recommended level of 15% and higher than the average of the European Union countries – 22% (2018).
Data on Estonian health expenditure in 2019 by financing schemes, health care functions and service providers have been published in the Health Statistics and Health Research Database.
Estonian health care personnel's wages, March 2020
30 OCTOBER 2020
The average hourly wage of Estonian health care personnel increased in all occupational groups in 2020, according to a wage survey of health care personnel conducted by the National Institute for Health Development (NIHD). Wage growth accelerated due to the spring’s state of emergency, several health care providers paid higher wages due to the state of emergency, in addition, the increased night and overtime bonus is calculated at a higher rate.
The median monthly salary (including all bonuses) of physicians in Estonia was 3,036 euros in 2020, 1,582 euros for nurses and midwives and 991 euros for caring personnel, increasing by 13.3%, 11.5% and 12.4%, respectively. "Compared to last year, wage growth accelerated. As the analysis is based on March data, one of the factors influencing wage growth is the state of emergency related to COVID-19 and therefore the payment of bonuses and higher-than-usual wages,” commented Kai Maasoo, an analyst at health statistics department at the NIHD.
The average gross hourly wage in Estonia was 8.37 euros in the first quarter of 2020, an increase of 5.9% over the year. “The gross hourly wages of physicians, nurses, midwives and caring personnel have grown faster than the overall Estonian average. The average hourly wage of physicians is 2.1 times higher than the overall average hourly wage in Estonia and the hourly wage of nurses and midwives is 1.1 times higher. At the same time, the average hourly wage of caring personnel is one third lower than the Estonian average," Maasoo explained.
The average gross hourly wage (including bonuses) of physicians increased by 12.2% over the year, dentists by 9.3% and nurses-midwives and caring personnel by 10.2% and 10.8%, respectively.
The data of the wages of health care personnel are available in the Health Statistics and Health Research Database.
Dental care statistics 2019
14 OCTOBER 2020
In 2019, a total of almost 1.97 million visits were made to all dental specialties in Estonia, which is almost 1% more than a year earlier, according to statistics published by the National Institute for Health Development.
Dental prophylactic and treatment visits accounted for 80% of all dental visits, and their number has remained at the same level as in 2018. Prosthetic visits accounted for almost 13% and orthodontic visits for 9% of all dental visits.
In 2019, a total of 701,923 people visited the dentist and nearly 1.02 million teeth were treated. Compared to the previous year, the number of people visiting the dentist has increased by 1.3%, while the number of treated teeth has decreased by 1.8%.
Dental statistics can be found in the Health Statistics and Health Research Database of the National Institute for Health Development.
Diagnostics and therapeutic procedures 2019
30 OCTOBER 2020
Last year, 91,391 mammographic screenings were performed in Estonia, which is 7% more than in 2018, according to statistics published by the National Institute for Health Development (NIHD). The number of patients studied increased by 2%. The number of mammography examinations in screening program in Estonia has gradually increased over the last three years.
X-ray examinations were performed 834,637 times last year, which is 2% less than in 2018.
In 2019, 66,982 interventional radiology procedures (biopsies, punctures, radiofrequency ablations and angiographies) were performed on 38,501 patients, which is 11% more than in 2018.
The number of endoscopic examinations increased by 14% compared to 2018. The largest increase (more than 3 times) has been in the examination of children's nose, larynx, mouth and pharynx.
The number of rehabilitation procedures has decreased by 3% in the last two years compared to the previous one. The largest share of rehabilitation procedures (35%) is physiotherapy, the number of procedures of which increased by 2% during the year.
The number of laboratory analyses have been steadily increasing over the last four years. The largest increase was in 2019 in immunological analyses (as in 2017), which was 8% higher than in the previous year.
As of the end of 2019, health care providers had 25 CT scanners, 19 MRI scanners, 14 mammography units, 11 angiographs, 7 radiotherapy equipment, 3 gamma cameras, 3 PET scanners, 3 lithotripsy equipment, 370 medical ventilators, 204 anaesthesia machines, 150 haemodialysis machines and 5 barotherapy chambers in use.
The Health Statistics and Health Research Database contains data on 2019 diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitation and hemodialysis procedures and high-tech devices, and a separate radiology summary and selected high-tech devices are presented according to the hospitals of the Hospital Network Development Plan (tables HH06 and HH09).
Surgical procedures 2019
08 OCTOBER 2020
Compared to 2018, the number of patients operated in hospital and day surgery slightly increased. Compared to ten years, day surgery has grown by 38 percent.
In 2019, over 75,000 patients were operated on in inpatient and 61,000 in day care. This means that more than a third of inpatient care patients (excluding nursing care) and two thirds of day care patients underwent surgery. Compared to 2018, there were 0.4% more operations in inpatient care and 1.4% more operations in day care. Compared to the last ten years, there is an increase in day surgery (+38%) and a decrease in inpatient surgery (-9%).
See the data on the performance of inpatient, day and outpatient surgery in 2019 published in the Health Statistics and Health Research Database. Selected surgical statistics by hospitals of the hospital network development plan are published here (tables HH071–HH074). Operating theatres data is available here.