TRENT. THE peripheral birth points they are confirmed, beyond the demagogues and the more populist positions, of the places where fewer and fewer children are being born. This is also certified by the Court of Auditors which, in analyzing the health company’s report, clarifies without ifs or buts that ”almost half of the women giving birth residing in the municipalities of Val di Fiemme and Fassa and Val di Non and Sole, In the 2022Yes is aimed at structures other than the local oneby choice or by clinical indication”.
All this has very high costs on the healthcare system. Keeping peripheral birth centers open diverts resources from other services that could instead be strengthened. ”From a cost perspective – the Court of Auditors clarifies – the services provided by obstetrics and gynecology departments of Cavalese and Clescalculated according to the criteria of the DRG (diagnosis related group) points recorded an average unit costrespectively, equal to euros 20,298 and 17,621 euros, against i 5,200 euros from the departments of Trento and 4,823 euros from Rovereto. In light of the above data, a reorganization of the sector would also lead to a more equitable distribution of resources between the different structures, since the obvious underutilization of local staff could be converted to support departments with high gaps”.
In short, the Fugattian maneuver of a few years ago which had placed the reopening of the Cavalese birth center among the founding elements of its electoral program is confirmed as an operation with more negative implications on the healthcare system than positive ones. The analysis of Court of Auditors focuses on the 2022 financial statements but 2023 did not go better: Cavalese recorded 137 births and Cles 282 (in short, adding them together the births of the two structures do not reach not even the minimum number envisaged by the exemption for a birth point, 500 births against the 1,000 per year considered the minimum number to be achieved to ensure quality care).
”It is highlighted – explains the Court of Auditors – that the births registered at the Cavalese and Cles hospitals were, in 2022, 132 and 242 respectively; figure significantly lower than the minimum parameters of 500 births per year, set by the State-Regions Agreement of 16 December 2010 (moreover, already in derogation from the 1,000 births/year)”.
”It remains – continues the Court’s analysis – even after the pandemic period, the problem of waiting lists could be solved by a 5% withholding tax on compensation for intramoenia, as required by national and provincial legislation but not applied. The waiting time monitoring system does not provide a completely complete picture of the real trend of the lists (patients who find alternative solutions while waiting are not included). How long concerns the topic of health mobility, in the year 2022, the accrual balance offers a positive figure of 2 million eurosequal to the differential between active mobility (patients outside the region who receive treatment in Trentino) and passive mobility. Over 70% of active mobility turnover is attributable to hospital admissions, with 61% of this being made up of affiliated private facilities, a figure which has been progressively increasing in recent years”.
For the aforementioned hospitalization activity provided by private structures towards extra-provincial patients, the provincial health service bears a cost of 1.3 million euros in 2022 (1.1 million in 2021), equal to the differential existing between the provincial rates recognized to private structures and the most ancient national reimbursement rates.
