[A proposed organizational model for health districts of the Lazio Region (Italy)].

In the Lazio Region (Italy), health districts were established with Regional Law n. 18 of 1994. In the absence of specific regional recommendations, this was done by taking into account local situations and the needs of individual local health authorities, resulting in a network of markedly heterogeneous health districts. This serious situation has never been dealt with in a concrete manner and no measures have been undertaken over the years to correct it. The Regional Association of healthcare directors, managers and workers, established in 2001, has performed a number of studies to compare corporate acts and healthcare services provided by individual health units; these have confirmed the existence of varied organizational structures. The proposal of a single organizational model for all health districts is particularly important today, following the approval of a commissarial decree (N.373 of 30.7.2015) that states that resources should be used efficiently, health care services should be offered in a homogeneous manner and in compliance with the basic levels of care, and that the number of healthcare units in Rome must be diminished through a process of merging and revision of territorial areas. This reorganization will necessarily face critical issues because of the presence of very different organizational models in the merged healthcare units, making it necessary to develop and implement new homogeneous models in the entire region.