PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – A confrontation to bring down the costs of passive mobility of Sicilian patients who decide to treat themselves in other regions of Italy even for diseases widely treated by facilities on the island to continue to reduce the negative balance on health mobility. Barbara Cittadini, president of Aiop Sicilia and national vice president of the association, calls for this. A recent analysis carried out by the Strategic Planning Department of the Regional Department of Health shows that health mobility still registers a substantial negative balance in 2023, although less than in 2019. The reduction also occurred due to the contribution of the private-law component of the Regional Health System. In addition, healthcare migration to northern regions concerns pathologies such as orthopedics for spine surgeries and prosthetics, bariatric surgery for the treatment of obesity, bone marrow transplantation, and cardiac surgery for heart valve surgeries. Pathologies for which there are still many patients who go to other regions in which they find a timely response to their health demand, but where the rates are higher and, therefore, entail a greater expense for the Sicilian region.”The Aiop,” says Citizens, in a note, “as a component of private law of the SSR, makes itself available for a confrontation with those who have the honor and the burden of having to make health policy choices, aimed at a planning that allows a possible through a virtuous synergy between the component of public law and that of private law of the SSR, to patients to be able to treat themselves in their region, without having to face the inconvenience of going to care far from home and family members, and to Sicily to spend less, reducing the trend of passive mobility.A recent analysis carried out by the Strategic Planning Department of the Regional Department of Health shows that health mobility still registers a substantial negative balance in 2023, although less than in 2019. But it stands out, above all, that healthcare migration to northern regions concerns pathologies such as orthopedics for spine surgeries and prosthetics, bariatric surgery for the treatment of obesity, bone marrow transplantation, and cardiac surgery for heart valve surgeries. Pathologies for which there are still many patients who travel to other regions in which they find a timely response to their health demand, but where the rates are higher and, therefore, entail a greater expense for the Sicilian region. “Aiop notes that within the private-law component of the SSR,” it adds, “there are facilities of excellence and qualified professionals who can respond to the health demand of Sicilians, even the most complex, without necessarily having to face the ‘journeys of hope,’ which create inconvenience for patients and higher costs for the region. Among the accredited private-law facilities (accredited and contracted with the SSR) there are several that for years have been successfully performing an average of about 1,400 bariatric surgeries/year for the treatment of obesity, as well as thousands of complex orthopedic, cardiology and cardiac surgeries; bone marrow and cornea transplants and cancer surgery, but which cannot meet all patient demand because they are subject to spending caps.”- Photo Aiop press office -(ITALPRESS)
