Puglia: governance of Asl and Irccs defined with the appointment of general managers

The governance of Asl and Irccs has been defined with the appointment of the general managers of 4 of the 5 Asl, two Irccs and the OO.RR. of Foggia. The selection notice was published on 7 February, and by the deadline, 4 March, 104 applications had arrived in the region. A commission examined them and then gave some indications to the regional governor, Antonio Decaro, who chose, for Asl Bat, Alessandro Di Bello, for that of Foggia, Tiziana Di Matteo (who is leaving Bat), for that of Lecce, Gianluca Capochiani, for that of Taranto, Vito Bavaro, for the Irccs Oncologico Bari, Tommaso Stallone, for the Policlinico of Foggia, Janko Tedeschi and for the Irccs 'Saverio De Bellis' of Castellana Grotte, Michelangelo Armenise. No appointments for the largest local health authority, that of Bari, which has the largest population served in the region, over one million people, the only one together with Asl Bat to have closed 2025 in the black.

The appointments were approved today by the regional council and made known immediately after the meeting 'without prior discussions or personal meetings with the nominees who,' Decaro hastened to clarify, 'are now learning of their appointments. From the centre-right oppositions, disappointment for the appointments: 'Great disappointment, we had hoped that the president, so good as a communicator, would surprise us with new managers who would cut the bridges with the past'. Applause from Fiaso (the Italian Federation of Health and Hospital Companies): 'Congratulations to the new CEOs,' says the president, Giuseppe Quintavalle. I wish them all the best in their work, in a role of great responsibility for the strengthening of Apulia's health service and the quality of services to citizens'.

The game of appointments of the directors follows by a few days the launching of the manoeuvre that, by increasing the Irpef surtax beyond the 15,000 euro bracket, tries to zero the 2025 health deficit of 349 million euro. On the contrary, it is up to the directors to intervene on the structural causes of the deficit, made up of personnel expenses for 88 million euros, equal to 43.42% of the total higher costs, medical devices and risk provisions with 35 million each, social services with 25 million, Sanitaservice with 15 million, rentals for 10 million and maintenance for 8 million, followed by pharmaceutical expenses for 117 million. This was the focus of Federfarma's reaction, which, with the national secretary and president of Bari-Bat, Michele Pellegrini Calace, replied to the region that had questioned the impact on the accounts caused by the transfer of antidiabetic drugs from direct distribution/DPC (dispensing on account) to pharmacy-based distribution. "The data for the entire year 2025 processed by Promofarma indicate," Pellegrini Calace points out instead, "a reduction in overall expenditure in the two dispensing channels (DPC and contracted) of €0.46 million and in consumption calculated at 5,131 packs, as a result of the reduction in consumption in DPC and the increase in contracted distribution. The switch of glyptins to dispensing in pharmacies therefore resulted in neither an increase in consumption nor an increase in expenditure, and instead produced a saving of €0.34 million".