PMID- 28546591 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20180404 LR - 20220318 IS - 1476-5373 (Electronic) IS - 0007-0610 (Linking) VI - 222 IP - 10 DP - 2017 May 26 TI - The healthcare system and the provision of oral healthcare in European Union member states. Part 8: Italy. PG - 809-817 LID - 10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.459 [doi] AB - In Italy healthcare is provided for all Italian citizens and residents and it is delivered mainly by public providers, with some private or private-public entities. Italy's public healthcare system - the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN) - is organised by the Ministry of Health and administered on a devolved regional basis. It is financed by general taxation that provides universal coverage, largely free of charge at the point of service. The central government establishes the basic national health benefits package, which must be uniformly provided throughout the country, through services guaranteed under the NHS provision called LEA - (Livelli Essenziali di Assistenza [Essential Level of Assistance]) and allocates national funds to the regions. The regions, through their regional health departments, are responsible for organising, administering and delivering primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services as well as preventive and health promotion services. Regions are allowed a large degree of autonomy in how they perform this role and regarding decisions about the local structure of the system. Complementary and supplementary private health insurance is also available. However, as in most other Mediterranean European countries, in Italy oral healthcare is mainly provided under private arrangements. The public healthcare system provides only 5-8% of oral healthcare services and this percentage varies from region to region. Oral healthcare is included in the Legislation on Essential levels of care (LEAs) for specific populations such as children, vulnerable people (medically compromised and those on low income) and individuals who need oral healthcare in some urgent/emergency cases. For other people, oral healthcare is generally not covered. Apart from the national benefits package, regions may also carry out their own initiatives autonomously, but must finance these themselves. The number of dentists working in Italy has grown rapidly in the last few years. In December 2014, there were 59,324 practicing dentists with a ratio of one dentist every 1025 inhabitants, about 90,000 dental chair-side assistants, about 26,000 dental technicians and about 4000 dental hygienists. To enrol in an Italian dental school a student must pass a competitive national entrance examination after obtaining a high school leaving certificate. For entry in the 2015-2016 cycle, there were 792 places for dentistry. In comparison with dental schools in other EU member states, the number of dental students per school is low with an average of 20 students per year, per school and a range of 10 to 60. The aims of this paper are to give a brief description of the organisation of healthcare in Italy, to outline the system for the provision of oral healthcare in Italy and to explain and discuss the latest changes. FAU - Bindi, M AU - Bindi M AD - Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry; PhD Student, Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. FAU - Paganelli, C AU - Paganelli C AD - Dean of the Dental School, (Pza Spedali Civili, 1 - 25123 Brescia), University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. FAU - Eaton, K A AU - Eaton KA AD - Leeds University Dental School, Worsley Building, Clarendon Way Leeds, LS2 9LU, Honorary Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. FAU - Widstrom, E AU - Widstrom E AD - National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland, Professor of Dental Public Health, Institute of Clinical Dentistry, Arctic University of Norway, PO Box 30.00271. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PL - England TA - Br Dent J JT - British dental journal JID - 7513219 SB - IM MH - Adolescent MH - Adult MH - Aged MH - Child MH - Child, Preschool MH - Delivery of Health Care/*organization & administration MH - Dental Care/organization & administration/statistics & numerical data MH - Dental Caries/epidemiology MH - European Union/organization & administration MH - Health Expenditures MH - Health Services Accessibility MH - Humans MH - Insurance, Dental MH - Italy/epidemiology MH - Middle Aged MH - National Health Programs/organization & administration MH - Quality of Health Care MH - Young Adult EDAT- 2017/05/27 06:00 MHDA- 2018/04/05 06:00 CRDT- 2017/05/27 06:00 PHST- 2016/12/01 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2017/05/27 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2017/05/27 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2018/04/05 06:00 [medline] AID - sj.bdj.2017.459 [pii] AID - 10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.459 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Br Dent J. 2017 May 26;222(10):809-817. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.2017.459.