The Medical Home Initiative in Italy: an Analysis of Changes in Healthcare Utilization.

Background: Seventeen medical homes (MHs) were established in the Local Health Authority (LHA) of Parma (about 450,000 residents), Emilia Romagna, Italy, between 2011 and 2016.

Objective: To estimate the effects of MH implementation on healthcare utilization.

Design: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study (01/2011-12/2017) using the Parma LHA administrative healthcare database.

An image quality review programme in a population-based mammography screening service.

Introduction: Mammography is one of the most technically demanding radiographic processes, and mammography quality assurance initiatives are priorities in the implementation of public health screening services. In the optimisation of image quality (IQ), radiographers play a major role. Between 1998 and 2009, the steering committee for mammography of a large population-based screening service in northern Italy undertook several audit checks of the imaging facilities.

[Analysis of the problem of "difficult hospital discharges" in the University Hospital of Parma].

We analyzed, in a middle-sized hospital, the problems related to the so-called "difficult discharges", conceived as situations involving an economic, human and organizational burden exceeding patients' and their families' capacities and requiring a specific involvement of territorial services. During a whole year (July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002) the cases found were 591. We demonstrated that the problem concerns mainly elderly patients, almost equally distributed between males and females, a quarter of the sample being represented by patients who had recently undergone surgery and whose discharge difficulties were mostly related to mixed social and sanitary problems.