[Public health care system in the Italia regions.]

The National Health Plan 2006-2008 underlines the need to overcome the differences that exist in the health care services of the Italian regions. Because the health care systems are organised differently on the territory, the Regions provide different answers to the health needs of their residents. Therefore, the purpose of this document is that of analysing the characteristics of the Italian public health care system in 2003. While in the first part, the health system is described region by region, in the second part, a cluster analysis is used to describe the local health authorities. The results show that while both the first and second level assistance have become stronger, the centrality of the hospital system has decreased, even though it still occupies a dominant position.