The progression from panel doctor's system towards family medicine in Hungary is reviewed, including professional, educational, financial and legal background. The main barriers for further development are insufficient human resources, inadequate financial foundation, administrative overload and the present legal regulation. Hungarian observations are compared to international experiences, as well. The author concludes that changing environment needs new structure of health care system with more focus on prevention, with services provided not only by physicians and also different attitudes from the citizens. Association of practices is suggested as a new model, involving other health specialists, as well. Based on the experiences of this model, new financial incentives can be introduced as tools for possible improvement in the future.