[Hospitalizations performed in patients enrolled in assistance programs for not-self-sufficient individuals]

The objective of this study was to verify if the enrollement of patients aged over sixty-five (over 65), in the territorial assistance programs of a mountain area, has reduced and optimized the volume of hospitalizations. During 2009, 422 patients over 65 who were non self-sufficient, with iso-severity level (IL) from 5 to 0 (Regione Toscana, Decreto n. 1354 del 25 Marzo 2010), were enrolled in home care programs. These data were processed despite the following analytical limitations: 1) inability to provide all tax codes (entered manually in database), the corrisponding personal data; 2) necessity to make cross-comparisons among numerous archives of data from different sources; and 3) lack to identify the outcome indicators for each patient. The assisted patients are characterized by a very high hospitalization rate. Among the main diseases, the following needed at least one hospitalization: dementia, stroke, cancer, osteoarticular diseases, cerebrovascular disease and Parkinson's disease. Therefore it is necessary to re-evaluate the current procedures adopted for the management of chronic diseases in the elderly in their own homes.