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The Italian Primary Healthcare System: a macro area comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Luciana Aimone Gigio

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Demetrio Alampi

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Enza Maltese

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Elena Sceresini

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

The paper examines the characteristics of primary healthcare across Italian macro areas before the pandemic, with the aim of providing a wide-ranging overview of the main drivers and their evolution during the period 2010-2019. The analysis contributes to the related literature by jointly examining features relating to both the supply of and the demand for healthcare, through the construction of composite indicators capable of representing its multidimensional nature. The study highlights the existence of very different models of territorial healthcare supply between macro areas and often even within the same areas in 2019, although the demand conditions were more homogeneous. Further, for both dimensions, the South had greater problems than the Centre and North. Despite the improvements made during the period 2010-2019 in all areas, both in terms of demand and supply, the different intensities have not allowed the initial gaps to be bridged. The importance of investing in strengthening territorial healthcare, emphasized by the Covid-19 pandemic, has been recognized by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, whose interventions aim at overcoming territorial disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Luciana Aimone Gigio & Demetrio Alampi & Enza Maltese & Elena Sceresini, 2024. "The Italian Primary Healthcare System: a macro area comparison," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 867, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_867_24
    as

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    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2024-0867/QEF_867_24.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    local healthcare; organization of the NHS (National Health Service); e-health; inequality; quality of services;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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