Good Management Will Benefit the Italian Health System
The Italian National Health System is effective and not very costly by European standards. In 2010 per capita health spending was 2,964 $PPP (purchasing power parity dollars), vs. the average 3,765 $PPP in the EU-15, the share covered by public spending was 2,292 $PPP (2,920 $PPP in the EU-15), i.e. 7.4% of GDP (8.2% in the EU-15), with a public coverage of 77.5% of the cost, in line with the rest of Europe and lower than in similar systems such as Denmark or UK.
In the last years health spending grew slowly, yet faster than GDP and it's destined to grow further if the health system wants to allow for clinical and technological innovation (which means cures for ailments we can't cure now) and if demographic dynamics are considered.
This is the framework sketched by the 2012 OASI Report, the yearly report of CERGAS' Observatory on functionality of Italian public healthcare organizations, which has just been published in the CERGAS website.
The scarce resource with a pivotal role in meeting the financial needs of the Italian healthcare system is good management, which can lead to a rethinking, at least partial, of the services provided and to the individuation of new financial sources.
Undifferentiated cuts are not going to work in a country very differentiated on a regional basis. Some regional systems have already undergone a streamlining process, others haven't. From 2001 to 2011, at one end of the range, Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna cumulated a per capita deficit of, respectively, €38 and €91; Lazio, Molise and Campania, at the other end, recorded €2,468, €2,090 and €1,501.
Good management can suggest solutions involving better goods and patients logistics, hospital-territory integration, new hospital organization models. It can also devise new ways to attract fresh financial resources.