Waiting time prioritisation for specialist services in Italy: the homogeneous waiting time groups approach.

The demand for referrals and diagnostic procedures in Italy has been rising constantly in recent years, making access to diagnostic services increasingly difficult with significant waiting times. A number of Health Authorities (known as Local Health Units) have responded by implementing formalised waiting-time prioritisation tools, giving rise to what are known as Homogeneous Waiting Groups (HWGs). The study describes the implementation of the HWG approach in Italy.

Incidence and costs of hip fractures compared to acute myocardial infarction in the Italian population: a 4-year survey.

Introduction: Few data are available about the incidence and costs of hip fractures in Italy. We aimed to determine the impact of hip fractures vs. acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

[Incidence and socioeconomic burden of hip fractures in Italy].

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the trend of the incidence and costs of hip fractures in Italy.

Methods: The incidence of hip fractures after 45 years of age in both females and males during the years 1999-2002 was obtained by analyzing the Italian Ministry of Health national hospitalization database, according to the diagnosis codes of International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification, 9th edition (IDC-9-CM) that indicate femoral fracture. We have computed all direct costs sustained by the National Health Service for hospitalization and treatment of hip fractures on the basis of the value of the Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) referring to hip fractures.