Evidence-based policy making: the case of Sardinian patients mobility for hospital treatments

Patients mobility is a well known and widespread phenomenon of increasingly importance in Europe after that the European Court of Justice expanded the possibility for citizens to receive needed treatments in Member States... [ view full abstract ]

Patients mobility is a well known and widespread phenomenon of increasingly importance in Europe after that the European Court of Justice expanded the possibility for citizens to receive needed treatments in Member States (Legido-Quigley et al, 2007).
Patient mobility has been widely studied: scholars of economics are interested in understanding reasons and economic consequences of citizens’ search for healthcare services in different places from where they live (Glinos et al, 2012; Levaggi & Zanola, 2004; Glinos et al, 2010), while clinicians are searching evidences of the superior clinical outcomes of mobility (Brekke et al, 2014).
Present paper investigates this issue from the perspective of an Italian regional policymaker to understand economic consequences coming from patient mobility and to suggest policy implications (Exworthy & Peckam, 2006). In particular, since every hospital treatment is priced, mobility is a relevant issue to be managed not only due to its overall financial dimension, but also because it raises potential inequalities among regions (Ferrario & Zanardi, 2011, Zocchetti 2012). Differences come from the amount of treatments provided (active mobility) and received (passive mobility) and from the gaps between the regional and the national pricelists.
The paper offers a longitudinal overview on what treatments citizens of an Italian region choose to receive somewhere else in Italy (Fattore et al, 2014); it also analytically quantifies the economic impact of mobility in the decade allowing the policymaker to understand what treatment created surplus and losses along the years due to the differences in the running pricelists. Finally, the paper suggests to strategically operate on the regional price list, to evaluate the convenience of continuing to provide some treatments and to reorganize their provision among regional providers.

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