"I'll tell you what services citizens find in a community home that really works."

Community homes are in short supply nationwide—with the tragedy of minimal services being provided in the South—and especially with doctors and nurses still stretched thin. But what do residents find in a truly functioning facility? Edgardo Contato, general director of the ULSS 3 Serenissima in Veneto, explains. He has accredited three of the twelve community homes planned for that area with the Region, "fully compliant," he assures, "with the criteria set forth in Ministerial Decree 77."

These facilities, located in the Venice Lido, Noale, and Favaro Veneto, are open 24/7 and, according to the health authority, "have continued to provide services day and night since they opened in May last year." Residents can access the Single Access Point for patient reception, the CUP counters for booking appointments, the blood collection point, and basic diagnostics. Other services include a family planning clinic, home care, and outpatient specialty care ranging from cardiology to ophthalmology to sports medicine, as well as integration with social services.

And the staff is there: there are currently 137 doctors working in the three CDCs, including 17 family doctors and pediatricians, and 40 white coats who ensure continuity of care at night and on holidays.

"Take the Noale community center, which recently received regional accreditation in August. For a catchment area of ​​approximately 30,000 patients, we have a 12-hour shift of employed doctors—outpatient specialists or former on-call doctors—while providing ongoing care throughout the night, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays," explains Director General Contato. Family doctors also work as "group medicine" in the community center: "For now," the manager continues, "they only care for their own patients, but when, with the single contract provided for by the new National Agreement, we are able to manage the remaining hours allocated to the Local Health Authority, we will include them in the community center's activities as well."

And this is the challenge in the reorganization of community care: bringing family doctors into community homes. A challenge that Contato believes can be met: "Today, doctors who join our community centers as group practitioners receive the incentives provided by the national contract, plus those included in the regional agreement. The Region is trying to put together the virtuous pieces of a system to bring the healthcare service closer to citizens and make it sustainable. That is," he emphasizes, "if I spend less on emergency care thanks to the efficiency of community home care, I can provide more and better services locally to an aging and diversifying population," he explains.