A methodology has been developed to monitor the effects of differentiated autonomy, which will give the first results as soon as it is granted to one or more Regions. It is the fruit of the work of CREA Sanità (Centre for Applied Economic Research in Healthcare), which today presented the 2024 Report ‘Opportunities for Health Protection: Regional Performances’. In a first phase, CREA explains, the dynamics on ten indicators in groups of Regions were calculated and then compared for the period 2017-2022: the group of Provinces/Autonomous Regions or those with special statute (Sicily, Sardinia, Valle d ‘Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige with Trento and Bolzano) towards the others, those in the Recovery Plan (Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Molise, Puglia, Sicily) always towards the others and that of the Regions which they requested differentiated autonomy in 2017 (Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna), once again towards the others. The results were aggregated into areas of improvement and worsening, and were summarized, for each group of Regions, in a numerical index: the Weighted Synthetic Index (ISP), a measure of the relationship between the areas of worsening and improvement in the period considered. The value 0 indicates an overall compensation between the regional improvements and worsening, the value 1 an improvement for all the regions of the group and the -1 their worsening. In the first comparison, for the Provinces/Autonomous Regions or those with Special Statute the ISP is 0.38 and 0.40 for the others. Therefore, in the period 2017-2022, CREA states, “the dynamics in the Provinces/Autonomous Regions or with Special Statute was (slightly) worse than in the other groups”. In the second comparison, the Regions in the Recovery Plan recorded an ISP equal to 0.44, compared to the 0.37 of the others: “the Regions in the Recovery Plan fared better than the others”. Finally, in the third comparison, the Regions that requested differentiated autonomy recorded an ISP equal to 0.36 compared to 0.40 for the others.
