The Regions against general practitioners: now the reform – breaking latest news

Primary care in Italy needs a change of pace. A recent survey, commissioned by the Italian Federation of General Practitioners (Fimmg) to Euromedia, reveals that 36.3% of patients say it is difficult to find their family doctor and 10.3% manage to contact them with great difficulty. But if the debate on the need to improve assistance is unanimous, also in light of the funding provided by the NRP, now it is about how to do it. It is in this scenario that the regional health councilors signed a document which, highlighting the critical issues, traces the lines of a reform of the system.

“The legal profile of the general practitioner and pediatrician, freelance professionals with agreements, is not suitable for dealing with the change in progress”, the councilors affirm, highlighting how the agreement does not contemplate “an evaluation system that has effective repercussions and can constitute a incentive”. For this reason, the Regions propose “a model that recalls clear rules and chargeable activities, with monitoring and remuneration systems linked to health results and activities carried out”. The councilors also underline how the national agreements signed in support of the regions’ actions to deal with the pandemic, on swabs, vaccinations, rapid tests, have produced “poor results”.

At the center of the proposal is the project of structures that allow a grouping of doctors such as to allow a point of reference for the needs of citizens, the so-called ‘Community houses’ provided for by the NRP. But, even in this case, for the Regions, the agreement with family doctors risks not guaranteeing the desired results in the face of a considerable investment.

“I believe that, in many cases, the perception of the potential that the family doctor has is limited by a whole series of bureaucratic trappings and by the lack of coordination with other services – commented Fimmg Secretary General, Silvestro Scotti -. a problem that exists in Italy and we must ask ourselves what could be the best way to integrate with hospitals and specialists “. Absolutely opposed to a change of legal status that would make family doctors – currently subject to an obligation to be present in the clinic of 15 hours a week for 1500 patients – employees of the national health system, the Fimmg hopes for an “integrated system” which, by acting on the agreement, allows to “maintain the relationship of trust with the citizen”.

“There is no doubt about this need for a new organization of territorial health care – explains Carlo Palermo, national secretary Anaao Assomed -. The Community Houses must guarantee a first approach for the low priority codes that are currently pouring into the first aid, absorbing about 15% of the work. But the solution is not ‘common sickness means joy’ “.