A new Agreement on Digital Health (“Patto sanità digitale”) prepared by the Ministry of Health has been submitted to the State and Region Conference in June 2015. The proposed agreement between regions and national government aims at setting forth a precise timetable for the implementation of e-health in Italy and envisages a steering committee in charge of monitoring the status of implementation of the plan.

Among the priorities of the new proposal, the Ministry of Health has indicated the adoption of effective solutions for patient workflow management and patient relationship management, to be achieved through the widespread use of electronic clinical records, telemedicine services and mobile health. According to the plan presented by the government, e-health solutions are key to a deeper overhaul of the national healthcare service in order to increase care outside of hospitals and find more efficient ways of bringing healthcare to patients.

Telemedicine solutions, including remote monitoring and diagnosis, would allow the national health service to bring services to patients in a more efficient way. While a specific piece of legislation addressed to telemedicine services has not yet been enacted, on February 20, 2014 the Italian Ministry of Health issued a set of official national guidelines on telemedicine, which set forth a useful regulatory and technical framework for healthcare authorities and private operators active in the provision of telemedicine services.

Unlike previous guidelines, however, the latest digital health plan also aims at restructuring the use of financial resources devoted to the development of telemedicine solutions, in order to convey funds only to more effective projects capable of fostering the widespread adoption of e-health instruments by other healthcare providers. The government also plans to increase the involvement of private actors in these development projects, through project financing and performance based service contracts.

While it is expected that patients will ultimately benefit from a more efficient model for the supply of healthcare, the government also hopes to rein in spending through a more efficient use of resources and a closer monitoring of test prescriptions and drug consumption, which the new e-health solutions will enable.