Healthcare: new fees for consultations and tests come into effect on Monday 21 September

From 21 September 2026 onwards, the new rates will come into effect, under which reimbursements will be made for services provided by healthcare facilities on behalf of the National Health Service: the update covers 448 services in specialist outpatient care (ranging from consultations to diagnostic tests) and 222 codes out of a total of 1,063 in the list of bespoke prosthetic aids, specifically aids for people with disabilities. A review of the rates that could also lead to adjustments to the patient contributions payable by citizens.

The decree – approved on 23 July 2026 at the State-Regions Conference – had been long awaited and replaces the one of 25 November 2024, which had been overturned by rulings of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court following a flood of appeals from accredited private healthcare facilities.

At the time, the administrative judges had rejected the calculations regarding the Ministry of Health’s reimbursement rates because they were outdated and deemed insufficient, in particular, for example, for reimbursements for initial specialist consultations. They have now, however, approved an average rate set at 26 euros and higher rates for certain specialities, but the average increases – which stand at around 5.8 per cent – apply to many other specialist services such as colour Doppler ultrasound, vascular diagnostics, nuclear medicine, endoscopy and electromyography, as well as to devices such as spinal orthoses, limb prostheses and visual aids.

The tariff review will, once fully implemented, cost an additional 210.7 million per year – on top of the approximately 550 million that had already been earmarked to fund the 2024 decree – and will be able to draw on the funds allocated in the latest budget, which set aside 100 million for this year and 183 million for 2027 specifically to enable the fee schedule to be revised upwards. As mentioned, the increases relate, in particular, to: initial specialist consultations, with an average fee set at 26 euros and higher costs for certain specialities such as cardiology (38 euros); but also vascular diagnostics, nuclear medicine, colour Doppler ultrasound, endoscopy, electromyography and dialysis.

As far as members of the public are concerned, the maximum co-payment remains unchanged at 36.15 euros. The cost of these changes to the co-payment will therefore be limited, but it could be more noticeable – estimated at just over 2 euros – for certain services such as an initial cardiology consultation with an electrocardiogram or a breast fine-needle aspiration. “As Cittadinanzattiva,” explains Valeria Fava, the association’s head of health policy, “we have repeatedly called for an update to the Essential Levels of Care, which are a key element in ensuring care for citizens. And we were not opposed to adjusting the fees.” However, the impact on the patient contribution “was unclear. Admittedly, this is a slight increase, a measure which, taken in isolation, is minimal, and this must be emphasised. But in a very fragile socio-economic context, it is nonetheless an additional factor that should not be underestimated. For this reason, Cittadinanzattiva supports the need to keep this issue under review. We believe that, in general, any measure introduced should be accompanied by a system to monitor the impacts that the measure itself generates. Therefore, if the new tariffs were to result in reduced access to services or a higher number of complaints – which we at Cittadinanzattiva can in turn report to the Ministry – we ask that all this be taken into account in order to reassess the measure itself or implement corrective measures”.