title: [The position of nephrology in regional health programs in Italy].
abstract: Regional health policies are acquiring remarkable importance in the allocation of healthcare resources, both human and financial. The importance of playing a prominent role in national and regional policy-making for healthcare professionals derives from the need to render the interventions of health policy more suitable to different territories. A review of all official regional healthcare plans approved in Italy until February 2009 has been carried out with the aim of recording the level of inclusion of nephrology in regional healthcare programming. The attention to kidney diseases has been delineated according to six levels of relevance: (i) the mere inclusion of nephrology in the plan, (ii) the level of priority of nephrology among other areas of intervention, (iii) the presence of new dedicated programs, (iv) the reinforcement of ongoing programs, (v) the allocation of specific resources, and (vi) the existence of nephrology networks. Nephrology does not turn out to be one of the priorities of intervention within the regional frameworks, with the exception of some regions which were found to be particularly sensitive to issues of outpatient care. Ad hoc measures for (i) the allocation of resources, (ii) the activation and (iii) the reinforcement of specific networks or programs were documented in a few cases. Nephrology is still too scarcely included in regional programming, considering the prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Italy. It is necessary that regional representatives of the discipline participate in healthcare planning to guarantee essential qualitative levels of healthcare for chronic kidney disease.
authors.affiliation: Centro di Ricerche sulla Gestione dell'Assistenza Sanitaria e Sociale (CERGAS), Università Bocconi, Milano. alessandra.susi@unibocconi.it
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Susi
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D009398:Nephrology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012041:Regional Medical Programs