by InTrieste
Friuli Venezia Giulia is not privatizing its health care system, its regional health councilor Riccardo Riccardi said this week, citing data that show private providers account for less than 4 percent of total regional health spending — far below the national average.
Speaking at a public debate in Udine on the role of public and private medicine, Riccardi said that in 2024 accredited private health care represented 3.82 percent of the regional health fund, up only marginally from 3.65 percent in 2019. Nationally, the figure exceeds 9 percent and reaches about 10 percent in several regions.
“These numbers do not support the narrative that we are privatizing,” Riccardi said, responding to criticism from opposition councillor Manuela Celotti.
Riccardi defended a mixed health care model in which the public sector retains full control over planning, standards and access, while private providers operate within those rules. The Italian Constitution, he said, requires universal and equal access to care but does not prescribe whether services must be delivered exclusively by public institutions.
At the same time, Riccardi acknowledged significant weaknesses in the public system, including inefficiencies and limited managerial flexibility. Those factors, he said, make private providers structurally more competitive, even when public control remains intact.
The exchange also highlighted the central crisis facing the system: staffing. Hospitals and clinics across the region continue to struggle to recruit and retain doctors, particularly in emergency departments and general practice.
Riccardi said that the region has increased salaries and incentives for health workers and is beginning to see results, though he warned that governing health care requires decisions that are often unpopular.
He also defended the use of temporary contract doctors, saying that the €11 million spent on outsourcing over two years amounts to just 0.2 percent of the regional health fund and was essential to keeping some hospitals open.
The most consequential announcement came at the end of the debate. Riccardi said the Conference of Regions is expected to approve, within days, a formal request to the national government to allow health authorities to hire retired family doctors. The measure would be inserted into the conversion of the Milleproroghe decree.
If approved, it would mark a significant shift in how Italy addresses the shortage of general practitioners, allowing regions to bring experienced doctors back into service to stabilize primary care in the short term.
