According to the most recent data released by Agenas, Emilia-Romagna has become the Italian region that welcomes the largest number of patients from other areas of the country. It surpassed, albeit slightly, Lombardy. Together with Veneto, these two Regions shoulder almost all of the spending on health mobility or health tourism.
The patients come mainly from the South, but also from other regions of the North and Central. The president of Emilia-Romagna, Michele De Pascale, warned that, if the trend continues in the coming years, the system may not hold up.
Collapsing healthcare in Emilia-Romagna: too many patients from other regions
The hospitals in Emilia and Romagna are in crisis due to the influx of people from other Italian regions. President De Pascale warned that the system may not hold up, not so much due to the lack of resources, but due to the impossibility of finding staff:
At the moment the main problem in Emilia-Romagna is our historic source of pride, namely the enormous pressure of people from outside the region who come for treatment here, clogging up the system. We have had a very strong growth trend in mobility from other regions after Covid, but we cannot increase the offer indefinitely. It’s not just a question of resources, which are only partially reimbursed: what’s missing is the staff.
The movement of people from one Region to another for health care purposes is called health mobility. It is divided into active mobility, when patients are received, and passive mobility, when patients leave regional borders. This is a phenomenon that has positive aspects, for example it rewards regional excellence in certain fields, but if too accentuated it risks creating serious problems.
Spending on health mobility in each Region
At the moment, only three Italian regions account for almost all of the spending to manage active mobility in excess of passive mobility throughout Italy. Emilia-Romagna is first, but the ranking reads:
- Emilia-Romagna, 387.2 million euros in excess spending;
- Lombardy, 383.3 million euros in excess spending;
- Veneto, 115.34 million euros in excess spending.
These figures are obtained by subtracting the expenditure saved due to passive mobility from the expenditure necessary to manage active mobility. There are also Regions that gain from this phenomenon. They are the ones from which the most patients leave:
- Campania, 211.3 million euros in spending saved;
- Calabria, 191.9 million euros in spending saved;
- Sicily, 139.7 million euros in spending saved;
- Puglia, 126.9 million euros in spending saved.
This happens even if the Regions of departure of those who travel for treatment are required to reimburse those of arrival. In fact, the presidents of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna report, these reimbursements are often not enough to cover the expenses.
Costs for private individuals
However, these calculations do not take into account the costs that private individuals have to bear in order to be able to receive treatment in another region. Food, accommodation, transport and sometimes the need for a parent to give up work to follow the care of a sick child, as happens for example in the cases of minors suffering from cancer.
The newspaper The Manifesto collected some data from the Observatory on the healthcare conditions of pediatric and adolescent cancer patients, presented in Parliament at the end of October. On average, a year of treatment outside one’s own region can cost an average of 35,000 euros, precisely due to the additional costs not covered by the National Health Service.
