Outsourcing in the Italian NHS: a Measure of Mismatch Between Private and Public Operators

Outsourcing is a useful tool for improving partnership between private and public companies. The budgetary constraints recently imposed by the Italian government on health industry are enhancing the urgency to outsource to face costs. Our study deals with the relationship between ASLs (Aziende Sanitarie Locali, the Italian local health authorities) and private operators outsourcing in Italy. In particular we hypothesize that the level of matching between public demand and private supply of outsourcing can affect the outsourcing development in Italian National Health Service. Under this hypothesis we present an analysis that aims at quantifying the level of mismatch between pharmaceutical companies offer and ASL needs in order to understand the future developments of outsourcing