Phasing out market mechanisms in the Italian National Health Service

Effects of different healthcare funding arrangements designed by the 21 regional governments in Italy. The system is producing some desirable results, including a shift from ordinary to same-day hospitalizations and a reduction in length of stay. Hospital admissions increased initially, but only where the regions encouraged this. Financial effects are more controversial. The regions have generally been trying to mitigate the effects of quasi-markets and are now increasingly ‘governing’ them.