Measuring in order to innovate in healthcare: social and healthcare best practices in Lombardy under the lens

The transformation that is affecting the socio-medical system, prompted by the increase in chronic conditions, the demand for proximity of care and the progressive integration between territorial services and digital solutions, requires a review of traditional organisational models. In this context, every innovation - regardless of its technological, organisational or clinical-assistance nature - produces structural effects on processes, professional responsibilities and resource allocation, with direct repercussions on perceived quality and health outcomes.

For these reasons, the value of an intervention cannot be assumed a priori, but requires an empirical evaluation aimed at systematically verifying potential impacts, i.e. aimed at understanding its capacity to generate tangible benefits in terms of accessibility, efficiency and equity. This presupposes the adoption of an evaluation approach based on a multidimensional measurement, capable of simultaneously capturing the clinical, organisational, economic, social and environmental effects of the proposed innovation. Only an analysis based on these dimensions allows us to understand the impact on team work, response times, patient experience and the overall sustainability of the model in the medium to long term.

The activities of the Observatory on Health and Social-Health Organisational Performance PERFORMA of the LIUC Business School are part of this framework, created with the aim of providing the system with rigorous tools to measure change, interpret its effects and build shared evidence. The Observatory promotes a culture of evaluation that does not end with the collection of data, but accompanies health and social-health organisations in defining objectives, choosing indicators, interpreting results and translating them into operational decisions.

A structured process for the identification and evaluation of the best social and health practices of the Lombardy ASSTs, the results of which will be presented at the event on 3 December at the LIUC University, represents the starting point. This initiative represents a significant step, making it possible to verify the soundness, measurability and potential transferability of the best practices proposed by the 25 participating ASSTs in Lombardy.

The valorisation of experiences has resulted in a structured process of analysis and comparison conducted by the Observatory team, in order to have replicable models, useful for guiding choices and contributing to the construction of a system vision. The crux, today, is precisely this: to move from an approach in which each organisation experiments for itself, to a system in which experiences are evaluated, compared and transferred. In a context of limited resources, professional shortages and increasing complexity, fragmentation is no longer sustainable.