Planning and control of medical device investments by Italian public health authorities: a means to improve the decision-making process

Within the context of increased health care spending in Italy and governmental cost-containment efforts, attention has focused on the medical device sector also in light of the newly introduced centralized procurement policy, of Health Technology Assessment (HTA), and of the Government’s call for a more managerial-type approach by public health authorities (PHAs). In this scenario, it became necessary to analyse investments in medical devices and to assess their contribution not only to patients’ health, but also to – if any – to the whole economy and to the nation’s economic growth. Public health authorities must now also assess the effect of investments on profitability by evaluating investment regenerations based on the diagnosis-related group revenue for inpatients and on the Regional tariffs established by the Italian national health service for outpatients. Knowledge of the medical device sector, and planning and control systems, will enable PHAs to improve their internal decision-making processes, which in turn, will enable them to reach their objectives of long-term economic balance and of quality of health care services to citizens.