Telemedicine increasingly central, 7 billion from the recovery plan

After the pandemic, health care identifies the first place of care in the home, and not in the hospital. The health emergency of Covid-19 highlighted the fundamental role of telemedicine to rethink patient management starting from the territory, guaranteeing home care. In fact, when hospitals were converted for Covid treatment, telemedicine and teleconsultation, even with improvised means, made it possible to provide health services to chronic patients. It is not surprising that in the Recovery plan – known as the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) – the first item of expenditure, equal to 7 billion euros, is dedicated to “Proximity networks, structures and telemedicine for territorial health care” . An article published on the Allies for Health website, the portal dedicated to medical-scientific information created by Novartis, takes stock of the increase in patients with chronic diseases which will soon represent 40% of the population, already known before the pandemic and which could find an effective model of taking charge thanks to the technological evolution envisaged by the NRP. The National Health Service – the service reads – is particularly in difficulty in following patients out of the hospital, certainly due to staff problems but also organizational issues. In fact, thanks to technology, the healthcare of the future foresees that, through an integrated network, the hospital becomes a place of care for acute conditions, while the patient’s care as monitoring and follow-up is carried out in the territory. To create proximity networks, structures and telemedicine for local health care, the Recovery plan envisages: strengthening the NHS, aligning services to the needs of communities and patients, also in light of the critical issues that emerged during the pandemic emergency; strengthen local health facilities and services and home services; develop advanced telemedicine solutions to support home care and overcome the fragmentation and lack of homogeneity of health services offered in the area. More than half of the 7 billion euro investment, that is 4 billion, is expected to be invested in the “home as the first place for care and telemedicine”. The rest of the budget is therefore used in the constitution of Community Houses, which take up the concept of the territorial health district (2 billion) and in the strengthening of intermediate health care and its structures, that is, in community hospitals (1 billion). Treating and generally assisting people in their homes is one of the great health challenges of the future. The unprecedented investment of 4 billion is aimed at taking care of 10% of the population over the age of 65 at home by mid-2026. The text of the Pnrr promotes coordination between health and social services, which allows “to truly achieve the full autonomy and independence of the elderly / disabled person in their own home, reducing the risk of inappropriate hospitalizations.” 2.72 billion and it is assumed that every citizen who needs it can be made from a minimum of one visit per month up to a maximum of one every two days, in the case of palliative care. people at home, a billion has been allocated. Each ASL must have IT tools capable of detecting clinical data in real time. In addition, there must be 602 operating centers in the area to coordinate the various home services, also ensuring a relationship with hospitals and the emergency network.

1 thought on “Telemedicine increasingly central, 7 billion from the recovery plan”

Comments are closed.