In the plan to reduce waiting lists in healthcare, approved by the Council of Ministers, there is confirmation of provisions already in force but so far little practiced (for example the obligation for local health authorities to guarantee a visit or examination with ticket in any case within the times even intramoenia or by resorting to the private person). And there are new features such as the increase in the hourly rates of those who provide additional services to reduce the lists and the increase in the limit for purchasing services from private clinics and laboratories.
The measures (a decree and a bill) for the Minister of Health Schillaci are “the result of work that saw us interact with the Regions, professional associations and citizens’ associations”. The Regions, called to apply most of the measures, however contested the “absence of concertation”. The coordinator of the Health Commission of the Conference of the Donini Regions spoke of an “abstract and uncovered” decree. Prime Minister Meloni also took to the field in defense of the plan, speaking in a video on social media about “very significant steps forward”, recalling that everyone will be called to “greater responsibilities”, including citizens. If they do not show up for the visit, without canceling with two days’ notice, “they will still have to pay the ticket even if it is reduced”. This is also a measure already in force in the national waiting list governance plan, but little implemented by the local health authorities.
There are therefore two texts in which the government’s intervention was doubled. On the one hand, the decree law, a total of seven articles which provide for a national platform for monitoring, which will have to communicate with the regional ones, a single regional or intra-regional Cup with all the services available to the public and those affiliated with it. If the visits are not provided within the times established by the priority classes, the service is guaranteed intramoenia or in an accredited private setting. There is a ban on suspending or closing diaries, a “recall” system is activated which will avoid the phenomenon of services booked and not carried out. Visits and tests can also be carried out on Saturdays and Sundays and in each hospital the hours of intramoenia must not exceed ordinary activity. Spending on personnel also increases: equal to 15% of the increase in the Health Fund compared to the previous year. The spending cap will be abolished from 2025 but there will be a calculation of a standard staffing requirement. A flat tax of 15% of the additional hourly services of health workers involved in reducing the lists is also foreseen.
Among the main measures of the bill (15 articles) are the 20% increase in hourly rates for staff for additional services against waiting lists, the possibility for trainees of freelance professional assignments of up to ten hours weekly and the measures against coin collectors are confirmed with the possibility of hiring with self-employment contracts.
The spending limits for the purchase of healthcare services from accredited private individuals are increasing, furthermore the Regions assign annual objectives on the reduction of waiting lists for the evaluation and verification of the activity of the regional directors of healthcare and the general managers of companies. Depending on whether these objectives are achieved or not, rewards, sanctions and even suspension are envisaged.
Print Article
