Digitalization of healthcare in Italy: state of the art and best practices

The drivers of the digital transformation in the healthcare industry: An empirical analysis in Italian hospitals

“…The focus on the Italian context is dictated, on the one hand, by the important efforts that the national government is making in order to ensure that digital health solutions integrate and improve the delivery models of existing health services, and on the other hand, by the strong disparity in the degree of digital transformation of healthcare structures due to the still heterogeneous implementation of regulatory interventions among the Italian regions ( Odone et al, 2018 ). The strong commitment of the national government is demonstrated by interventions such as the “2014–2020 Strategy for Digital Growth” and the “2017–2019 Plan for Information Technology in Public Administration” which have provided a boost towards the digitalisation of the healthcare system through the introduction of electronic health records, telemedicine services and centralized health services booking systems ( Odone et al, 2018 ). The strong disparity in the level of digital transformation between the different health facilities is instead demonstrated by the different choices of the Italian regions in relation to the adoption of electronic health records ( Odone et al, 2018 ).…”

“…The strong commitment of the national government is demonstrated by interventions such as the “2014–2020 Strategy for Digital Growth” and the “2017–2019 Plan for Information Technology in Public Administration” which have provided a boost towards the digitalisation of the healthcare system through the introduction of electronic health records, telemedicine services and centralized health services booking systems ( Odone et al, 2018 ). The strong disparity in the level of digital transformation between the different health facilities is instead demonstrated by the different choices of the Italian regions in relation to the adoption of electronic health records ( Odone et al, 2018 ).…”

“…After focusing the eHealth measures on the digitization of document processes in recent years, the “2014–2020 Strategy for Digital Growth” and the “2017–2019 Plan for Information Technology in Public Administration” have extended the focus also on the implementation of advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing in healthcare ( Odone et al, 2018 ). However, the path towards a complete digital transformation of Italian healthcare system still seems long ( Odone et al, 2018 ).…”