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Italian responses to the COVID-19 emergency: Overthrowing 30 years of health reforms?

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  • Mauro, Marianna
  • Giancotti, Monica

Abstract

This paper discusses the measures adopted by the Italian government to face the COVID-19 emergency after the first wave in March/April 2020. This study places these measures in light of the massive reform process based on the “managerialism” of healthcare, which started in the 1990s. These reforms, which were inspired by the ideas of ‘New Public Management’, introduced managerialism, regionalization and quasi-markets to the Italian National Health System. As a result, dramatic changes have been made in public healthcare, and the responsibility for healthcare was decentralized to regions, introducing a multi-level governance structure. The COVID-19 emergency has drawn the results of this approach into question. With the enactment of new decrees, the central government directly intervened in the management of the health system by introducing specific measures aiming to increase the number of hospital beds and personnel, which w previously downsized. We describe the main content of the new measures adopted to face the COVID-19 emergency and discuss how key points of the managerialization process in Italy are being questioned as a result of these measures. The COVID-19 emergency will likely redesign the trajectory of health reforms in Italy and other countries in Europe.

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  • Mauro, Marianna & Giancotti, Monica, 2021. "Italian responses to the COVID-19 emergency: Overthrowing 30 years of health reforms?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(4), pages 548-552.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:125:y:2021:i:4:p:548-552
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2020.12.015
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    Cited by:

    1. Matthias Klumpp & Dominic Loske & Silvio Bicciato, 2022. "COVID-19 health policy evaluation: integrating health and economic perspectives with a data envelopment analysis approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(8), pages 1263-1285, November.
    2. Laurent Mériade & Corinne Rochette, 2022. "Governance tensions in the healthcare sector: a contrasting case study in France," Post-Print hal-03516559, HAL.
    3. Cafferata, Alessia & Cerruti, Gianluca & Mazzone, Giulio, 2022. "Taxation, health system endowment and quality of institutions: a "social" perception across Europe," MPRA Paper 112118, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Ellen Kuhlmann & Jean-Louis Denis & Nancy Côté & Gabriela Lotta & Stefano Neri, 2023. "Comparing Health Workforce Policy during a Major Global Health Crisis: A Critical Conceptual Debate and International Empirical Investigation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Monica Giancotti & Valeria Ciconte & Marianna Mauro, 2022. "Social Reporting in Healthcare Sector: The Case of Italian Public Hospitals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-13, November.
    6. Mauro, Marianna & Giancotti, Monica, 2023. "The 2022 primary care reform in Italy: Improving continuity and reducing regional disparities?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Sebastien Bourdin & Slimane Ben Miled & Jamil Salhi, 2022. "The Drivers of Policies to Limit the Spread of COVID-19 in Europe," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-9, February.
    8. Bosa, Iris & Castelli, Adriana & Castelli, Michele & Ciani, Oriani & Compagni, Amelia & Galizzi, Matteo M. & Garofano, Matteo & Ghislandi, Simone & Giannoni, Margherita & Marini, Giorgia & Vainieri, M, 2021. "Corona-regionalism? Differences in regional responses to COVID-19 in Italy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(9), pages 1179-1187.

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