The Italian Health Service at the Rendez-Vous with the Pandemic: Structural Weaknesses and Prospects for Reform

We describe the evolution of the Italian health system before the COVID-19 crisis (with particular reference to the trend in health supply and demand, as well as the institutional context) and the measures implemented to tackle the pandemic. We focus on the main critical issues that should be addressed in the perspective of a structural reform of the health system aimed at improving its resilience in the post-epidemic phase, in particular with reference to the coherence of the governance framework and the opportunity to enhance the services of territorial medicine.