Emilia Romagna. Ferrara spends the most money on medicines

Parma is the lowest. The 2016 goal of the people of Ferrara is to reduce spending by 7.9%. In the first 5 months it contracted by 6.9%

la nuova Ferrara – 13/07/2016

With the same money you can and should do better. The health conundrum for 2016 remains the same. The solution lies in the reorganization, which includes greater integration between the two companies (Sant'Anna and Asl), and in the compression of some costs, including those related to pharmaceutical expenditure, which constitutes an Achilles heel for the Ferrara health system.

This was discussed in the socio-health conference of the province of Ferrara which was held yesterday afternoon in the Castle. The 2016 budget of the ASL and the University Hospital (Sant'Anna) were on the agenda of the meeting.

For the ASL, compared to the 2015 final, the deviations from the 2016 estimate are very modest: the value of production went from 703.9 million to 702.5; costs from 691.5 to 690; the goal is to close the year with assets of 3,600 euros.

For Sant'Anna the changes are more significant: the value of production will drop by 13 million, from 321 to 308 million; total costs should drop by 8 million, from 307 to 299 million euro (-2.64%) The breakdown of the cost item gives an idea of the economic-health path: more will be spent on health services than in 2015 (from 27 to 28.5 million); while less will be spent on the purchase of consumer goods (from 68 to 65 million), on personnel (from 123.7 to 122.3 million). Another three million will be saved by setting aside less, much less: from 4.5 to 1.4 million, a break from 67%. The final forecast is to close 2016 with assets of 6,500 euros.

But it was said about the drugs. Pharmaceutical expenditure per capita in Ferrara was 187.3 euros in 2015, the highest in the Region (Parma is the lowest with 164 euros). This year we will have to pay the duty: the Region intends to lower pharmaceutical expenditure by 4.6% and Ferrara sets the objective of reducing it by 7.9%; the first data of 2016 are quite encouraging; between January and May the containment was 6.97%.

A similar downward trend can also be seen for total pharmaceutical expenditure (contracted plus direct supply): between January and May, Ferrara recorded a decrease of 4.23% compared to the same period of 2015; at the regional level, the average drop was 1.29%.

The expenditure for medicines incurred in hospitals is incompressible: here we ask “only” not to go overboard: the regional objective for 2016 is to limit the increase to 5.9%; Ferrara will not be able to indulge in so much, it will only be able to increase spending by 4.5%.