The spending review is accelerating: since yesterday the screening of the almost two thousand amendments presented to the decree has been underway and must be completed today, together with the presentation by the Government of its modifications. Recourse to trust is now taken for granted, both in the classroom, where the text will have to be voted on Thursday, instead of Friday, as initially planned, and in the Chamber. Meanwhile, the first hypotheses are already arriving on how healthcare could change in the aftermath of the approval! action of the measure: on the economic website Lavoce.info, in particular, the possible proposals through which the regions will be able to start the "path of reorganization of their health services", without compromising assistance for citizens, are put in black and white: "the existence of margins for recovering resources and improving the appropriateness of services is in fact a common belief of all health professionals, as well as those responsible for the Regions and Local Health Authorities". Among the first points to be mentioned are the "simplification of administrative procedures and the dissemination of IT tools (single points of access to health and social care services, e-health)". Then the reorganization of the primary care network, which on various occasions has been at the center of the debate, "with support for associations in general medicine (start-up of complex primary care units, continuity of care, reduction of the inappropriateness of emergency and specialist services)", but also the chronic care model (the proposal has already been activated on an experimental basis by Lombardy. Reference to the "network of intermediate structures for the post-acute phase, with the reconversion of small hospitals", as well as "the rationalization of purchases ( central purchasing bodies, consortium procedures, etc.) and the merging of warehouses between various hospitals and healthcare companies.” Generics and distribution on behalf appear to be other avenues that could lead to cost containment without affecting services.
July 24, 2012 – DoctorNews
Farmindustria and Confederates threaten mobilization
The measures on pharmaceutical expenditure imposed by the spending review decree must be softened because they risk having devastating effects on the sector. This is the cry of alarm launched yesterday by Farmindustria and the confederal trade unions Filctem-Cgil, Femca-Cisl and Uilcem-Uil in a letter jointly signed and addressed to the president Monti and the finance minister, Vittorio Grilli.
In the letter, the four organizations ask for an urgent meeting with the executive to illustrate some alternative proposals to the interventions contained in the spending review. «Once again» they write «public pharmaceutical expenditure is called to pay 40% of the entire budget even if it represents only 15% of health expenditure». An unsustainable sting for the sector, which has already contributed to the cuts in the last 5 years
