- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2023
Towards person-centered integrated care in Italy
The main objectives of the project were:
- to support the Italian Ministry of health and Ministry of Labour and Social Policies in their efforts to implement reforms to further health and social care integration, focusing on developing an integrated home care cycle;
- To understand the challenges and potential associated with the integration of home care services for people who are not self-sufficient;
- To promote progress in policies for the integration of health and social care – ensuring that integrated care systems are people-centered and sustainable in the long term.
Particular attention was paid to the regional and local dimension, given the increasing decentralisation of Italy’s healthcare system over the past two decades and the importance of the planning and management of social services at community level.
Context
The coming decades in Italy are expected to be characterised by a strong birth rate decline, a reduction in the resident population, marked ageing of the population and further fragmentation of households – with uneven dynamics between inland and metropolitan areas, given the processes of urbanisation and depopulation. There are also significant differences in care delivery models in place and in needs assessment tools for home-based care used across Italian regions and autonomous provinces.
The project aimed at strengthening the institutional and administrative capacity, including at regional and local levels, to facilitate socially inclusive, green and digital transitions and to implement the European Strategy for Caregivers and Care Receivers set out by the European Commission.
Support to be delivered
The project adopted a multidisciplinary approach to explore the main dynamics of the sector, identify good practices and highlight key innovations and areas for improvement. The analysis combined a review of existing policies and practices with an analysis of national and international data, complemented by new and unpublished data from two OECD surveys conducted in 2024 and 2025 – one targeting Italian regions and autonomous provinces, and the other targeting 14 local areas.
Focus groups were organised in 14 pilot areas, bringing together practitioners, local administrators, and stakeholders. These discussions aimed to identify barriers, facilitators, and targeted actions – including training - to enhance integration of health and social care services and interventions at local level.
Results achieved
A model for integrating home care services for non-self-sufficient people based on three interrelated macro-functions – the integrated care pathway, the mix of measures and providers, the range of activated and achievable resources – was developed. Such coordination model would involve recomposing medical and nursing case, personal care and assistance functions through joint planning and delivery, while leaving their institutional ownership unchanged. This approach involves the joint performance of both planning activities (integrated planning) and delivery activities (unified territorial organisation) through unified governance bodies that include the various stakeholders at the state, regional and local levels (multi-level governance). The model is expected to promote progress in policies for people-centered care.
Orientation and training material for health and social workers based on the experience and results of the pilot phase were developed. This material will benefit the beneficiaries and the main stakeholders of the project after the end of the action too.
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: