Annual prescription for drugs for the chronically ill: new law simplifies prescriptions and renewals

There is an important simplification that could potentially make life easier for as many as 24 million Italians, many of whom suffer from at least one chronic disease and have to take regular medication: think of those who suffer from diabetes, hypertension, or other heart conditions. Well, in the simplification law that has just landed in the Official Gazette comes an important novelty that could cut a lot of red tape for both citizens and family doctors: the law introduces a much-awaited measure for chronic patients and white coats. In fact, from now on the doctor will be able to indicate in the National Health Service prescription the dosage and quantity of drugs to be dispensed for up to 12 months, thus avoiding having to make repeated visits and prescriptions just to renew the therapy, which is always the same. The pharmacist, in turn, will be able to deliver each month the quantity required for 30 days of therapy, reporting any criticalities in therapeutic adherence to the doctor.

In particular, Article 62 of the latest law on simplifications (182/2025) published in the Gazette on 3 December last provides that 'in the prescription of medicines charged to the National Health Service for the treatment of chronic diseases, the prescribing doctor indicates in the repeatable dematerialised prescription, on the basis of the individual treatment protocol, the dosage and the number of packages that can be dispensed over a maximum period of twelve months. The prescribing doctor," the first paragraph continues, "if reasons of prescriptive appropriateness so require, suspends at any time the repeatability of the prescription or modifies the therapy.

This is an important simplification compared to what happens today with prescriptions that ordinarily provide for dispensing a maximum of two boxes (for chronic patients, prescriptions of up to a maximum of six months are already provided for, but have so far been little applied). In order to verify that the medicines are taken correctly, the same law stipulates that "at the time of dispensing, in pharmacies with which I have an agreement, the pharmacist shall inform the patient of the correct way to take the prescribed medicines and deliver a sufficient number of packs to cover thirty days of therapy

In any case, the pharmacist, in monitoring adherence to drug therapy, 'if he detects difficulties on the part of the patient in correctly taking the prescribed medicines, reports the critical points to the prescribing doctor for assessment within his competence'.

This of prescriptions valid for 12 months for the chronically ill is not, however, the only simplification contained in this new law, because it will also be possible to obtain prescribed drugs with the documentation we receive when we leave hospital (the so-called hospital discharge) or with emergency room reports 'or other similar documentation issued by the continuity of care services (the medical guards), ed. ) on the day of presentation or in the two immediately preceding days, from which specific pharmacological treatment was prescribed or, in any case, suggested'. In other words, in these cases and with this documentation, it will no longer be necessary to request a new prescription from the family doctor or trusted specialist. It will however be a decree adopted by the Ministry of Health in agreement with the Ministry of the Economy to define, within 90 days, the modalities for implementing these new simplification measures.