Veneto Hospital Reorganization: Private Partnership for Lake Hospital
A mixed-capital company for the hospital of the upper lake. This has appeared in some national newspapers (Corriere della Sera, Sole 24 Ore) and will soon be published in the Official Journal of the European Community and the Italian one, the extract of the tender notice for the public evidence procedure promoted by Ulss 22 to transform the lake hospital into a limited liability company with predominantly public capital. The decision of the general director Filippo Marelli proceeds within the framework of regional management of the orthopedic rehabilitative experimental project scheduled for the Benaco hospital, as per the resolution adopted by the Lagoon Executive in the summer of ’99 for the reorganization of the Veneto hospital network. A move that finds the agreement of Malcesine’s mayor Giuseppe Lombardi. “This is the first concrete step after three years of words. I believe it’s right to continue on this path, and ultimately, the work of the committee that will have to choose and evaluate the private partner will be very important. After all, it’s an obligatory choice given the direction that the Region took at that time with the launch of the so-called hospital schemes.”
Involvement of private entities and management of the facility
In practice, the Bussolengo Health Agency has decided to involve private parties with whom to create a new company (Ulss will hold 51%) capable of managing the orthopedic rehabilitation center with greater flexibility that the collaboration between public and private can ensure. A necessary move due to difficulties in finding staff and the impossibility of securing additional financial resources to promote a relaunch of the facility. Interested private entities for the Garda hospital must submit their participation request for the tender by May 28.
They will first need to demonstrate experience in managing social-health services and then formulate concrete ideas regarding the services to be activated and enhanced within the hospital, founded in 1949 and initiated by a social initiative for the care of poliomyelitis children. For this reason, the land on which the Val di Sogno hospital stands was donated to the Red Cross by two Austrian families. The hospital will continue to provide basic healthcare services, maintaining orthopedics, functional rehabilitation, emergency services, radiology, and the analysis laboratory.
Evaluation and approval of projects
“The projects submitted,” explains a note from Ulss 22, “will be evaluated by a commission appointed by the Healthcare Agency, which will consider the overall achievement of the objectives indicated by Ulss. Once the private partner responsible for the best proposal is identified, Ulss and the partner will develop a management experimentation project that will be submitted to the Regional Council. The Region may endorse the project and present it to the Permanent Conference for the relations between the State and Regions, which will be called to express its opinion.”
If approved, the Bussolengo Company and the private partner may proceed with the formation of the SRL, which will have a board of directors (five members, including non-shareholders, elected by the shareholders’ assembly), a president with representation powers, and a CEO responsible for day-to-day management. The assembly must approve a strategic plan and a financial plan, in addition to appointing the auditors of the board of statutory auditors.”
The procedural timeline will not be short. The property will remain owned by the Company, which will lease it to the society.
