NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
All international students are required to have appropriate insurance. In Italy, the National Health Care System is provided by a public health care service (SSN). Only foreign citizens with a valid permit of stay may apply for the service offered by the ASL (local branch of the National Health Care Service).
Non-Resident Italian Students
For students temporarily living outside the area of their ASL/ATS of residence, they may:
- Temporarily register with the Milan ATS health office.
To obtain temporary registration, you must go to the “Scelta e Revoca” offices with a valid ID, regional service card/fiscal code or national health card, self-certification of domicile, certificate of withdrawal from the doctor at the previous place of residence and appropriate documentation certifying one of the conditions provided for.
You will then be temporarily withdrawn from the ASL of residence and doctor. You will be able to reactivate registration at the ASL of origin upon returning to your Municipality of residence.
Temporary registration has a maximum validity of one year and can be renewed.
- Accessing the system for occasional medical examinations
For non-deferrable health problems, you may contact a family doctor or pediatrician working in the area, with payment of the outpatient or home visit.
By presenting the payment receipt for the service to the ASL of residence, you are entitled to reimbursement of the expenses incurred by the ASL of residence.
Family doctor service:
€15.00 for an outpatient examination
€25.00 for a home visit;
For urgent health needs, you may go to the Emergency Room at a local hospital facility.
Consult the list of general practitioners in the Milan area: ATS Milano - Doctor Search
For more information, please consult the ATS Milano website or call the toll-free number +39 02.85.781
EU Students
The following information is valid for citizens from a European Union country, the European Economic Area or Switzerland
STAYS LONGER THAN 3 MONTHS
If you are in Italy for study reasons for a period longer than 3 months, you can register with the Regional Health Service (SSR).
To do so, you will need to have the appropriate S1 community forms (previously E106, E109, E120, E121 forms) issued from the country of origin.
Contact your home country's health insurance agency to find out where they can be obtained! These forms are used to exercise your rights to benefits as an EU national living and/or working in an EU country other than your own.
To register for the Regional Health Service, you must go to the "Scelta e Revoca" counter at ATS Milano, with a photocopy of a valid ID and fiscal code and with the completed S1 form.
Consult the European Union website for more information on the social security institutions of member countries: Social Security Coordination Institution
STAYS SHORTER THAN 3 MONTHS
If you are in Italy for a period shorter than 3 months, healthcare is guaranteed through the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), which entitles you to receive necessary, including non-urgent, treatment under the same conditions and at the same cost (free of charge in some countries) of clients in the country where you are located. These cards are issued by the insurance body of the country of residence.
Important! The European Health Insurance Card is not an alternative to travel insurance; for example, it does not cover private healthcare or costs such as a return flight to your country of origin in case of need.
Non-EU Students
STAYS LONGER THAN 3 MONTHS
If you are in Italy for study reasons and have a residence permit longer than 3 months, you can register with the Regional Health Service (SSR).
To do this, you must go to the "Scelta e Revoca" counter at ATS Milano with the following documents:
> Valid residence permit or receipt of the request for the first residence permit issued by the competent bodies (Police Headquarters, Prefecture or Post Office);
> Self-certification of residence/habitual domicile
> Italian fiscal code
> Receipt of payment made by postal order to c/c 379222, made out to Amministrazione P.T. Regione Lombardia, reason of payment " iscrizione volontaria al SSN ," of the annual lump-sum fee (calendar year). Payment can be made at post offices or bank branches.
The annual fee due for the various categories of individuals is calculated on the total income earned in the previous year in Italy and/or abroad. The amount to be paid can be requested (and will in any case be verified) by the counter operator.
STAYS SHORTER THAN 3 MONTHS
If you are in Italy with a tourist visa or a residence permit shorter than 3 months, you cannot register with the Regional Health Service, but you will be able to use any required health services for a fee.
In any case, to obtain a permit of stay, you will be required to provide proof of international travel medical insurance coverage for the entire period for which you will be in Italy.
First Aid and Emergencies
Single Emergency Number: 112
Accessing the Emergency Room
Access to the hospital Emergency Room is regulated by an urgency assessment system, triage, which identifies priorities for providing care.
Upon arrival at the emergency room, individuals receive an immediate assessment of their level of urgency by health workers, with the assignment of a color code that establishes the priority of access to care based on the severity of the case and regardless of the order of arrival at the hospital.
Each patient is assigned a color code based on the clinical severity assessed:
- Red code: very critical, life threatening, top priority, immediate access to treatment.
- Yellow code: moderately critical, presence of evolving risk, potentially life threatening, non-deferrable service.
- Green code: not very critical, no evolving risks, deferred service.
- White code: non-critical, non-urgent patients.
After the triage, the emergency room doctor completes the patient's clinical assessment, confirming or adapting the code assigned at entrance, based on the findings made.
If, after medical intervention, the patient is discharged with a White Code (as it has been clinically shown that the service provided was not urgent), a €25.00 fee must be paid. All services provided that are identified by the emergency room doctor's clinical assessment as Green, Yellow or Red Codes are free.
When accessing the Emergency Room, you should:
- bring your Health Card/Regional Services Card or at least your Fiscal Code card, as well as any certificates exempting payment.
- bring your health records from any previous hospital admissions, laboratory or additional tests, etc.
- know the names and details of any treatments in use.
How to find the Emergency Room closest to you:
SALUTILE Pronto Soccorso is an app from the Lombardy Region which can be used to consult the list of all Emergency Rooms in the Lombardy Region. You can also see the number of people queuing at that time and the crowding index.
You can view the facilities closest to you on the map and get directions to the chosen Emergency Room.
Download the application for free and you can:
> see the number of patients waiting, divided by priority code (Red, Yellow, Green and White);
> check the crowding index of the facility compared to available resources;
> get directions to the nearest facility.
Continuity of Care Service (formerly Guardia Medica)
The Continuity of Care Service (Continuità Assistenziale, formerly Guardia Medica) intervenes during the hours when general practitioners' offices are closed, for illnesses that cannot be treated by an attending physician the following day, therefore in the event that it cannot be postponed.
At the end of the medical examination, the doctor issues a completed two-copy information form (form M). One copy is intended for the attending physician (or the health facility, in case of hospitalization) and the other is kept by the Continuity of Care doctor.
Phone numbers to access the service
To contact a Continuity of Care Doctor by phone, call:
800 193 344 Milan area
800 103 103 West Milanese and Rhodense area
848 800 804 Melegnano and Martesana area
800 940 000 Lodi area
The Service is available from 8:00am to 8:00pm on pre-holidays, holidays, Saturdays and Sundays and from 8:00pm to 8:00am every night.
Information required
Provide the technical operator with the information required to request intervention, namely:
> Full name, age and address;
> General information of the caller and any relationship with the patient (if a different person);
> Type of problem, signs and symptoms and time of their occurrence
The technical operator will then put the individual in contact with the local doctor on duty.
The doctor may intervene in the following ways:
> Limited to telephone advice;
> Ask the user to go to the Continuity of Care Center for an outpatient assessment;
> Carry out a home visit, if, in his/her opinion, the patient's clinical condition requires it;
> Refer the patient to more appropriate facilities and/or activate an Emergency Service through the Single European Emergency Number 112, if the condition cannot be managed at home.
The doctor may provide:
- Pharmaceutical prescriptions for non-deferrable treatment and covering a cycle of treatment not exceeding 48-72 hours;
- Certification of ill health limited to the days coinciding with the holiday, pre-holiday and night shifts of the Continuity of Care Service.
The doctor will NOT provide:
- Nursing services not related to the medical examination;
- Prescription renewals for ongoing treatments;
- Non-deferrable registrations from other doctors in the SSN prescription book;
- Certificates for sporting activities;
- Certificates for returning to school;
- Certificates of ill health for non-shift workers;
- Stitches;
- Prescription of diagnostic-instrumental tests or specialist visits.