Integrated Home Care
Integrated Home Care (Assistenza Domiciliare Integrata - A.D.I.) is a home treatment program coordinated by medical staff and social workers, which offers medical care in the patient's own home. The aim of Integrated Home Care is to reduce hospitalizations and enable people to be discharged from hospital faster, by supporting patients with an assistance program developed by their GP and their Local Health Authority. In order for the program to be successful, the patients and their family must agree on the treatment proposed; the family need to prove they are willing to actively participate in the patient's care by carrying out tasks together with the medical staff.
There are two different ways to request Integrated Home Care:
the GP sends a written request to the local Office for Home Treatment (Ufficio Cure Domiciliari)
the ward where the patient is hospitalized sends a written request to the Office. In this case, this should be done three days before the patient will be discharged, so that the Health Authority has enough time to organize the home treatments
After this written request has been sent, the patient's home will need to be evaluated. There will also be a meeting between the medical practitioners and the family members; during this meeting it is determined whether the prerequisites for Integrated Home Care are met, and if so, which kind of assistance program should be followed.
Integrated Home Care includes:
GP's visits
skilled nursing
personal assistance, for example with personal hygiene
medicines
supply of health assistance items, for example a wheelchair
medical materials, for example gauze
transport, for example to hospital or to specialist examinations
If the patient needs to be hospitalized during the Integrated Home Care program, the program is temporarily suspended.
