Primary Care of the (Near) Future: Exploring the Contribution of Digitalization and Remote Care Technologies through a Case Study

The Italian Government planned to invest euro15 billion of European funds on National Health Service digitalization and primary care enhancement. The critical burden brought by the pandemic upon hospital care mean these investments could no longer be delayed, considering the extraordinary backlogs of many treatments and the ordinary gaps of fragmented long-term care, in Italy and abroad. National guidelines have been published to standardize interventions across the Italian regions, and telemedicine is frequently mentioned as a key innovation to achieve both goals. The professional resources needed to run the facilities introduced in primary care are defined with great precision, but no details are given on how digitalization and remote care technologies must be implemented in this context. Building on this policy case, this paper focuses on what contribution digitalization and telemedicine can offer to specific primary care innovations, drawing from implemented technology-driven policies which may support the effective stratification, prevention and management of chronic patient needs, including anticipatory healthcare, population health management, adjusted clinical groups, chronic care management, quality and outcomes frameworks, patient-reported outcomes and patient-reported experience. All these policies can benefit significantly from digitalization and remote care technology, provided that some risks and limitations are considered by design.

Automated summary

The Italian Government plans to invest euro15 billion of European funds to digitalize the National Health Service and enhance primary care. Telemedicine is considered a key innovation to achieve these goals, but no details are given on how digitalization and remote care technologies should be implemented. This paper focuses on the contribution of digitalization and telemedicine to primary care innovations, drawing from implemented technology-driven policies. These policies can significantly benefit from digitalization and remote care technology, provided that risks and limitations are considered.