The accounting data quality in Italian public health-care organizations

In the “Health Covenant” (in Italian, Patto per la salute) for 2010-2012, art. 11 foresees that the Regions commit to initiating procedures - in relation to implementing fiscal federalism - in pursuit of certification of their annual reports, a pathway that will commit these Regions to ensuring the quality of both their administrative procedures and their accounting data. This can be interpreted as a crucial first step in the process that should lead to monitoring and evaluating the quality of accounting data. This pathway cannot be said to be either simple or linear, first due to the technical accounting aspects that “intrinsically” characterize organizations that are part of the public healthcare system, and for this reason, in addition to the evident “weight” and centrality exercised, the development process will require particular attention. This paper aims to analyse the current path that the Emilia-Romagna Region has undertaken. To this end, we will begin with an analysis of the issues, first on a national and thereafter on a regional level, subsequently analysing the first stage of the special procedures put in place at the end of last year. In fact, to all intents and purposes, this is intended as a first step towards certification of the annual reports of public healthcare organizations. The results of the process are therefore crucial from a prospective point of view to “validate” the entire process and put in place any necessary “adjustments”.