The Italian health system recorded improvements on the hospital assistance front, but highlighted significant deficiencies in the areas of prevention and territorial care.
This is revealed by the monitoring of the essential levels of assistance (Lea) made by the Ministry of Health. This highlighted that, although 13 regions and autonomous provinces have reached sufficiency in all areas of health care, well 5 regions have been rejected in prevention and territorial care.
The results of monitoring about health in Italy
First the good news: the Lea monitoring of 2023, whose data were brought forward on February 26, 2025 by Sole 24 Ore, confirmed that the Italian national health system is doing progress in the hospital sectorrecording a generalized improvement in performance in this area. However, bad news is that they persist Difficulty in other areas crucial to the health of citizens, namely the prevention and the treatment through district assistance.
In detail, it emerged that 14 regions have reached sufficiency In all three areas analyzed (prevention, district assistance and hospital assistance). These include Piedmont, Lombardy, Autonomous Province of Trento, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Campania, Puglia and Sardinia.
However, the remaining regions, despite the commitment, have not been able to achieve adequate results.
The rejected regions
Five regions distinguished themselves negatively for not having reached sufficiency in at least one of the monitored areas. In particular, the Valle d’Aosta he got the lowest scorebeing rejected both in district and in the hospital assistance. A group of regions follows that have not reached the minimum score in two areas: Abruzzo, Calabria And Sicilywho have not achieved the sufficiency in District Prevention and Assistance.
In addition, other regions have remained under the limit threshold In one area: Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Liguria And Molise As for prevention, while Basilicata in district assistance.
The situation in South regions And in the peripheral areas it remains worrying.
The most critical areas
According to monitoring data, while hospital assistance is generally improved, with only the Aosta Valley that has not reached the minimum score, the areas of the prevention and of territorial care They highlight the most marked gaps.
The prevention, in particular, continues to suffer from the Pandemic aftermath, which in 2020 caused a collapse of the performance. In fact, the recovery was slower than expected. Despite the efforts, the improvements are still shy, especially in the regions most affected by organizational and economic difficulties. And also the district assistance, which includes primary and territorial treatments, has seen poor progress.
The most virtuous regions
At the top of the ranking, the regions that obtained the highest scores are the Venetothe Tuscanythe autonomous province of TrentotheEmilia Romagna and the Piedmontwhich managed to maintain high levels of assistance in all areas.
However, their condition is not without challenges and implications. Since many of these regions must support a greater number of patients from other regions. This phenomenon, although a necessary response to the lack of resources in other areas, could end up damaging long -term economic sustainability.
The importance and urgency to invest in public health
The prevention and territorial care are crucial not only to improve the health of the population, but also to reduce future health costs. Investing in effective prevention can significantly reduce the number of hospitalizations Hospital and expensive treatments, lightening the pressure on hospital facilities and improving the overall efficiency of the health system.
If the health system cannot effectively implement prevention services, Italy risks not grasping the economic benefits deriving from a proactive health system. Invest in preventive health And in a more efficient territorial care system not only helps to improve the quality of life for citizens, but contributes to reducing long -term costs for the regional and national health system.
In this way, the centrality of the regions that excel in health could be preserved, allowing them to be as a model of efficiency and innovation for other regions, stimulating a virtuous circle which also translates into an economic benefit for the entire national health system.
