Dataset: Preliminary analysis of open data pertaining to the services available through the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia and provided by family medicine

BACKGROUND: The Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS) began publishing service-related data in May 2023, following a directive from the Ministry of Health (MoH). The ZZZS website provides easily accessible information about the services provided by individual doctors, including their names. The user is provided relevant information about the doctor's employer, including whether it is a public or private institution. The data provided is useful for studying the public system's operations and identifying any errors or anomalies. 

METHODS: The data for services provided in May 2023 was downloaded and analysed. The published data were cross-referenced using the provider's RIZDDZ number with the daily updated data on ambulatory workload from June 9, 2023, published by ZZZS. The data mentioned earlier were found to be inaccurate and were improved using alerts from the zdravniki.sledilnik.org portal. Therefore, they currently provide an accurate representation of the current situation. The total number of services provided by each provider in a given month was determined by adding up the individual services and then assigning them to the corresponding provider. 

RESULTS: A pivot table was created to identify 307 unique operators, with 15 operators not appearing in both lists. There are 66 public providers, which make up about 72% of the contractual programme in the public system. There are 241 private providers, accounting for about 28% of the contractual programme. In May 2023, public providers accounted for 69% (n=646,236) of services in the family medicine system, while private providers contributed 31% (n=291,660). The total number of services provided by public and private providers was 937,896. Three linear correlations were analysed. The initial analysis of the entire sample yielded a high R-squared value of .998 (adjusted R-squared value of .996) and a significant level below 0.001. The second analysis of the data from private providers showed a high R Squared value of .904 (Adjusted R Squared = .886), indicating a strong correlation between the variables. Furthermore, the significance level was < 0.001, providing additional support for the statistical significance of the results. The third analysis used data from public providers and showed a strong level of explanatory power, with a R Squared value of 1.000 (Adjusted R Squared = 1.000). Furthermore, the statistical significance of the findings was established with a p-value < 0.001. 

CONCLUSION: Our analysis shows a strong linear correlation between contract size of the program signed and number services rendered by family medicine providers. A stronger linear correlation is observed among providers in the public system compared to those in the private system. Our study found that private providers generally offer more services than public providers. However, it is important to acknowledge that the evaluation framework for assessing services may have inherent flaws when examining the data. Prescribing a prescription and resuscitating a patient are both assigned a rating of one service. It is crucial to closely monitor trends and identify comparable databases for pairing at the secondary and tertiary levels.