BARI (ITALPRESS) – Less travel, closer services and a better connection between specialist centres and territory. These are the objectives of SM-ART Puglia, the project presented today at the headquarters of the Region and promoted in collaboration with Novartis Italia to improve the path of care for people with multiple sclerosis through telemedicine and the coordinated work of health professionals.
Multiple sclerosis, which sees in Puglia more than 7,000 patients, has been chosen as the first area of application because it requires regular controls, different skills and continuous assistance.
The solutions identified may also offer useful indications for the management of other chronic diseases, in accordance with the National Plan of Cronicity and with the address lines on the telemedicine.
The project is part of the path initiated by the Apulia Region to improve the management of chronic pathologies on the territory, make it more efficient and use the opportunities offered by digital tools. Apulia thus opens the way to innovation in the management of chronicity, with an experience replicable to other territories.
“The Puglia Region has long started a path of health evolution, to face the challenge of chronicity and to build the foundations of a progressive digitization and overcoming any inefficiencies of the regional health system – comments the director of the Department for Health Vito Montanaro – The new model, experimented in the field of multiple sclerosis, demonstrates that the times are ripe to evolve towards organizational choices that enhance the proximity of the care, improving the efficiency and efficiency of the patients”.
In the course of a year of work, the project SM-ART Puglia has brought together healthcare professionals, institutions and technicians of the territory to identify concrete solutions in response to the needs of people who live with multiple sclerosis in Puglia. The comparison has led to the identification of five priority intervention: strengthening of the grip, integration between hospital and territory, telemedicine, territorial rehabilitation and monitoring of the outcomes of health interventions.
The project has also analyzed the experience of telemedicine management of people with multiple sclerosis at the Bari Polyclinic, evaluating the impact on the health system and on the daily life of patients and caregiver.
The analysis indicates that a follow-up visit made in telemedicine can reduce the total cost by 76% compared to a visit in the presence. 75% of the overall economic benefits detected are for patients and caregiver, also thanks to the reduction of travel and indirect charges associated with visits, while more multidisciplinary and territorial management has helped to improve access to care, lighten pressure on MS Centres and promote better quality of patient life.
“Initiatives like this show how important it is to network to respond to the challenges of chronicity, which require shared responsibility and answers that go beyond the innovation in the therapeutic field,” comments Federico Mambretti, Country President of Novartis Italia who has collaborated on the project since 2024. “Scientific progress can generate full value when it results in fair and timely access to innovation. For this reason Novartis works together with all the protagonists of the health system, making available its heritage of knowledge and its ability to innovation to contribute to the development of increasingly effective gripping models and close to the needs of people and their families”.
– Novartis press office photos –
(ITALPRESS).
