There is also a malus bonus for doctors' professional policies in the "decree" being worked on by the Minister of Health, Renato Balduzzi. In practice, the premium to be paid will increase or decrease on the basis of the "claims" committed by the doctors.
The novelty is one of the measures being studied for an omnibus provision for Health that intervenes on various fronts: from drugs, with a new push to single-dose and innovative therapies, to the free profession of doctors where the aim is to write more certain rules on intramoenia, from health insurance, which has always been a thorn in the side of doctors, to the electronic health file. With an incursion also on the health front where a crackdown on the sale of cigarettes to minors is being studied with the provision of heavy fines for operators of up to a thousand euros, which become 2 thousand in the event of a repeat offense.
Last Thursday, Balduzzi delivered the draft of the decree of 20 articles (see also Il Sole 24 Ore of 1 August) to the health councilors, with the invitation to produce their findings in the next few days. But the minister also carried out a mini-survey with the group leaders of the majority to verify their moods. The goal is to present the decree in the first Council of Ministers useful after the summer break: perhaps as early as August 27 to land in Parliament on September 2, when work resumes.
Several news for doctors, starting with the profession. After Parliament approved last Thursday the umpteenth extension of the so-called "enlarged intramoenia" which allows doctors to practice their profession in studios, or in any case outside public structures until the end of the year, the "decree" tries to put things in order.
Providing the possibility for the Regions, after a survey of the availability, to authorize the ASL to acquire external spaces for the exercise of the free profession of doctors. Or in a "residual way" by allowing intramoenia in "networked" studios.
News also for family doctors where there is a push for a reorganization of primary care by providing for the obligation to join territorial aggregations, units or networks of medical offices in order to guarantee long-hour services. And then, to counter the boom in complaints against doctors, in addition to the introduction of the malus bonus for policies, a sort of "safeguard clause" is being studied which protects the doctor if he carries out the activity by adapting to protocols, guidelines and good practices. In these cases, it would only be liable for damages due to willful misconduct and gross negligence. The introduction of a solidarity fund is also planned for the categories most exposed to maxi-compensations.
Finally, on the pharmaceutical chapter, the decree encourages the Regions to resort to new personalized and single-dose packaging systems for therapies, with the aim of ev
