Healthcare, hiring and staff incentives are underway. And intramural care for nurses.

At least €3 billion would be needed to implement all the measures being worked on by the Ministry of Health's technical staff for the upcoming budget law, but even reaching €2 billion—the target Minister Schillaci set to his colleague at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Giorgetti, this summer—would be a "good result." In short, the hunt for resources is on, but the outcome is still unknown. What is certain is that the majority of the resources available for this sensitive area for citizens will be dedicated to healthcare workers, either to attract new doctors and nurses or to prevent existing staff from fleeing public hospitals.

The priorities—which will receive €1-1.5 billion if at least €2 billion is available—are first and foremost hiring and then incentives, including tax incentives, to boost healthcare workers' paychecks. On the first front, two options are being explored: the first, ideal one, would finally overcome the spending cap on hiring by implementing the staffing requirement mechanism calculated using an algorithm that Agenas (the Regional Health Agency) had been working on for a long time, but which has so far remained on the shelf. Alternatively, the spending cap would be further adjusted (the proposed target is 5%). On the incentive front, a range of possible measures are being considered: for doctors, following last year's failed attempt, a 15% tax exemption on the specialty allowance (worth approximately €800) will be proposed, or alternatively, a possible increase. For nurses, who are the primary emergency (at least 70,000 are short), the aim is to at least double the specific skill allowance (currently around €80). Among the incentives being sought is finally making freelance work simple and accessible for NHS nurses, as is the case with doctors' in-person work. Welfare benefits are also being explored to make a profession more attractive, a profession that young people are shying away from (the last admission test had more vacancies than applicants). The goal is for a nurse with a 3+2 degree (three new master's degrees will soon be launched) to earn almost as much as a young doctor. In the future, after the budget, the challenging goal is to separate healthcare workers' bargaining from that of the rest of the public sector, thus providing them with more flexible tools.

In addition to healthcare workers, Minister Schillaci also aims to allocate another €500 million for DRGs (after last year's €1 billion), which covers reimbursement rates for hospitalizations that are no longer in line with current costs. €80-100 million is also being earmarked to fund the latest national mental health plan, while the goal is to find €300 million to fund the new National Health Plan, which has been lacking for over 16 years. Experts would also like to find as many resources as possible to refinance reimbursement rates for outpatient specialist care (visits and tests), which have seen protests from laboratories and private facilities. Infrastructure resources are also needed (pursuant to Article 20) to carry out hospital work to install the 3,100 new machines (CT scans, MRIs, etc.) funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).

Meanwhile, the Gimbe Foundation has emphasized that, with public healthcare spending stagnating at 6.3% of GDP in 2024, Italy ranks 14th among the 27 OECD countries and last among the G7. Given this critical situation, hospital doctors from Anaao Assomed are calling for "immediate measures" and the Democratic Party is announcing "strong opposition" ahead of the 2026 Budget Law.