LA “TERRITORIALIZACIÓN” DE LA ASISTENCIA SANITARIA EN ITALIA*

The establishment of the National Health Service in Italy in 1978 was also marked by a significant investment in community healthcare. In the early 1990s, the reorganization of the healthcare system focused on the sustainability of healthcare spending and the cost of services. This led to a weakening of activities such as health education, public participation, and prevention, which are not remunerated as individual services. As a result, investment in community healthcare was abandoned in favor of an increasing emphasis on hospital care. The effects of this shift became evident during the pandemic, as the system struggled to provide adequate assistance to people. In recent years, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan has once again allocated resources to community healthcare. However, unless the underlying issues that led to its decline are first addressed, there is a risk of creating new challenges for the Italian healthcare system.