“It is necessary that the Drg for surgery” in breast cancer “be revised, a fundamental step to have adequate codes. The request is not only for a purely economic question but also for the psychological well-being of the patient. every reconstruction after surgery to remove the mammary gland, the hospital suffers a loss of about 1700 euros per patient. This often involves a split between the two operations, which are performed at different times. “Thus Riccardo Masetti, director of Uoc Breast Surgery, Gemelli polyclinic and president of Komen Italia, today in Rome, at the event for the presentation of a policy document with a political orientation (Policy Brief) focused on breast cancer, created with the non-conditioning contribution of Pfizer.
“There are reimbursement systems stopped in 1995, which go in the opposite direction to prevention and do not take into account the quality of the care provided – summarizes Masetti -. If, at the same time as the intervention, we do the reconstruction to avoid a trauma upon awakening for women, it is a massacre economic because, by reconstructing or not “the removed part,” you have the same reimbursement “, therefore you” lose yourself economically. “Quality” is not rewarded on the contrary, penalized – he stresses -. And if a woman has a minimally invasive and conservative with very little physical impact and you can send her home the same day or the day after, the DRG is halved. If you keep her at least 2 nights in hospital, you have a double Drg. ”Again the situation changes from Region to Region. “In Trentino Alto Adige there is a Drg of 7 thousand euros, in Lazio of 3,200, less than half. Agree on regional health, but there must be an equity system that rewards excellence, regardless of the region”, Masetti repeats.
The one presented today “is not a document that will solve all the problems – observes Masetti – but has made concrete in 12 points, black and white, the requests of clinicians, patient associations and institutions”. In terms of diagnosis, “the Italian National Health Service is of a good level – he adds – however it needs to be perfected in prevention, a very important weapon to generate economic savings. Screening of women between 50 and 70 at the regional level works differently and has accumulated delays in the years of Covid: there is work to be done. A neoplasm diagnosed in the initial phase – he remembers – requires in-depth analysis “and special tests” because today the goal is not only to treat breast cancer, but the individual patient “, precisely with the most appropriate, personalized treatments provided in the Breast Unit “.
Speaking of the multidisciplinary care centers for breast cancer patients, “previous governments have made an effort for their establishment, but – observes Masetti – there is an inequality at the national level.” We must “work to ensure that a woman, regardless of whether she falls ill in Lombardy or Sicily, can take care of herself in her region, also avoiding the expenditure of health tourism “.
The theme of rehabilitation “is very important for taking care of the patient. The treatment of excellence from the oncological point of view is not enough – she argues – because the therapy creates damage due to the impact that the disease has on the psychological, relational, social, sexual level, of the possibility of procreating, breastfeeding. If we do not change the paradigm and do not put equal dignity in the treatment plan, these women will not be able to return to their normal and full life ”.
On the right to be forgotten for cancer patients, “an act due to these people – according to Masetti – to give them the possibility of returning to normality”, Domenico Corsi, of the Aiom Foundation (Italian Association of Medical Oncology) also spoke. the campaign carried out by the institution with the collection of “over 100 thousand signatures” to sensitize “institutions on the need for a right that defines patients who have had cancer in pediatric age cured, after 5 years of clinical recovery and after 10 years, in the case of a diagnosis in adulthood. There are 950 thousand people “in Italy,” who have the same life expectancy as those who have not had cancer, “Corsi specifies, but they have difficulty accessing a mute, activating insurance, finding work or adopting children.
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