Creazione di valore sanitario e sistemi di finanziamento: il caso del dipartimento di salute mentale

Abstract

Health-value adding is the new priority and a watchword for all clinicians and health service workers. The creation of health-value requires a team work involving different actors: A. the clinical staff, whose task consists in the creation of treatment models and in their formalization into guidelines and protocols; B. the managers, since effective clinical and therapeutic practices must go along with coherent organizational models and valuable control instruments; C. the public institutions responsible for the definition of health policy guidelines: among these, a prioritary role is played by funding methods, which can affect significantly the results of health-value adding initiatives. This work aims at studying the relationships between funding methods and health-value creation, with particular reference to mental health services. Particular relevance is given to the funding of mental health departments, with a view to putting aside the shortcomings of the current models and proposing the DRG as an alternative funding method for mental health services. The procedures for patients classification and evaluation envisaged in the psychiatric DRG can assist health service managers in evaluating the outcomes and the patients’ health conditions. In other words, the issues concerning funding and management evaluation will be articulated in the same language: this, in turn, will eliminate the lack of integration which can be presently identified as the main fault of most funding methods, and improve the degree of coherence among resource allocation, activities and results. The case of mental health services can therefore be taken as an example of successful and effective cooperation among management, health policy and clinical staff.