Abstract
The Author discusses some aspects of the Health Care systems in developed countries, and analyzes the reasons for the failure of recent reform programs to provide good quality service at a reasonable price. While not condemning business-style management completely, the Author points out how, in the neurological field too, under the control of physicians, biomedical research and innovation with inter-departmental collaboration can be managed according to specific aims, so as to prevent much costly and wasteful diagnostic and therapeutic practice, thus improving service quality while reducing hospital running costs.
Sommario
I tentativi di rinnovamento dei sistemi sanitari vigenti nei vari paesi sviluppati hanno lo scopo di contenere l'enorme crescita della spesa sanitaria. Le politiche rivolte al mero contenimento della spesa rischiano tuttavia di influenzare negativamente la qualità dell'assistenza. Per rinnovare i sistemi sanitari non basta porsi l'obiettivo di una maggiore efficienza dei servizi, ma occorre stabilire se le prestazioni erogate sono valide in termini di rapporto costi-efficacia e se le prestazioni stesse sono erogate in modo tempestivo e qualitativamente adeguato. Per realizzare l'obiettivo di migliorare la qualità dell'assistenza riducendo gli sprechi, è necessario investire sulla ricerca biomedica promuovendo studi di outcome in grado di fornire linee guida affidabili e valutare in modo adeguato i benefici connessi all'innovazione tecnologica, eliminando i fattori che favoriscono un uso distorto dell'innovazione stessa. Occorre altresì attivare forme organizzative che prevedano un maggior input dei medici e degli altri addetti all'assistenza nel processo decisionale ai vari livelli.
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Invited Lecture to the XXIX Congress of the Italian Neurological Society, Rome, November 25–29, 1995.
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Rosati, G. Neurology and the new health care policies. Ital J Neuro Sci 17, 99–103 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02000841
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02000841