SOME IMPLICATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION PROCESS IN HEALTH-CARE IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC

In this paper, society's visions and expectations for health quality o f the Slovak population after a radical turn in the system of medicine and health care are confronted with the existing reality in sense of policy evaluation study.Although the relatively slow transformation pr ocess in the Slovakian health care system shows some positive results, it is also followed by a great number of negative social impacts. The feedback between the reforming social and institutional systems and t heir individual elements such as individuals and social collectivities is particularly obvious in the field of medicine, this relationship b ecomes mainly evident in the following topics: the way of evaluating a nd financing health care outputs and services, access to top health fa cilities, expensive medication and health supporting pharmaceutical pr oducts, and problems in communication between physician and patient. T he process of individualization and activation of the Slovak populatio n involves a new approach toward health. The changes in the institutio nal and social system have evoked also the changes in citizens' behavi our in relation to health. The secondary analysis of some empiric indi cators shows that decisive factors influencing attitudes or Slovak cit izens to their health are education and living style. The factors of t he same importance concerning the trends in the improvement of health conditions are measures accepted by state health authorities in the Na tional Program of Health Support of SR, which include several strategi es oriented to the quality improvement in Slovakian health conditions. There are such strategies as alternative medicine, a culture of self treatment, development of self-help groups on one side, and strategy o f health protection, strategy of health development and strategy of he alth prevention on the other side.