Italian pharmaceutical expenditure increased by 42% between 2001 and 2009, with a sharp slowdown starting from 2006, due to the effect of the progressive drop in prices. As for hospital expenditure, it grew by 25% in the same period. This was revealed by the 2011 Report 'The Health System in Backlight' by the Farmafactoring Foundation. The data on individual patients are obtained from the SiSSI project: the point of view is therefore the privileged one of general practitioners. "In practice - explained Vincenzo Atella, scientific director of Farmafactoring - the data contained in the report, in particular those on medicines, account for the 'pure' expense incurred to treat individual patients, net of all administrative costs".
The report shows that the main health expenditure item is that of drugs, followed by hospital admissions. Between 2001 and 2009, expenditure on diagnostic tests per capita grew by 74%, as there was a shift towards more expensive tests. As for the distribution of spending by age, the peak is recorded between 55 and 75 years of age, and it drops beyond that age: as if to say that those who age more age in greater health. But what is significant is that, compared to the national average, there are deviations in per capita expenditure on drugs that are too significant to be explained only on the basis of differences in the distribution of health needs of the population: for example in 2009, against an Italian average of 385 euros, Lazio spent 438 euros, Emilia-Romagna 431, Puglia 422.
Barbara Di Chiara – June 16, 2011 – Pharmakronos
