Patient mobility in European Union: health spas in Ischia, Italy.

Regional Incentives and Patient Cross-Border Mobility: Evidence from the Italian Experience

Background In recent years, accreditation of private hospitals followed by decentralisation of the Italian National Health Service (NHS) into 21 regional health systems has provided a good empirical ground for investigating the Tiebout principle of “voting with their feet”. We examine the infra-regional trade-off between greater patient choice (due to an increase in hospital services supply) an...

Is It More Important to Address the Issue of Patient Mobility or to Guarantee Universal Health Coverage in Europe?; Comment on “Regional Incentives and Patient Cross-Border Mobility: Evidence From the Italian Experience”

This paper discusses whether European institutions should devote so much attention and funding to cross-border healthcare or they should instead prioritise guaranteeing universal health coverage (UHC), inequalities and tackling the effects of austerity measures. The paper argues through providing the evidence in both areas of research, that the priority at European level from a public health an...

Interregional Patient Mobility in the Italian NHS: A Case of Badly-Managed Decentralization; Comment on “Regional Incentives and Patient Cross-Border Mobility: Evidence From the Italian Experience”

The article by Brenna and Spandonaro on interregional mobility for acute hospital care in Italy raises important issues concerning social and territorial equity in a healthcare system. Based on Regions and private providers’ strategic behavior, the hypothesis adopted to explain patient cross-border mobility (CBM), demonstrated by statistical analysis, may be further explored using qualitative m...

The Health Mobility Is All True Mobility?; Comment on “Regional Incentives and Patient Cross-border Mobility: Evidence From the Italian Experience”

In their study, Brenna and Spandonaro analyzed the mobility into Italian regions. In particular, it analyzes the situation of 5 regions, with very different backgrounds. With this paper, we try to better define the meaning of health mobility and to find its underlying causes. Furthermore, we propose a strategy that could help in controlling mobility flows that currently are the source of health...

Cross-Border Mobility in Italy: Some Considerations in Response to the Recent Commentaries