Italy

Healthcare System

Tax-funded universal healthcare through the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN), established 1978 (Law 833/1978). Administered by 20 regions and 2 autonomous provinces, each operating their own ASL/AUSL (Aziende Sanitarie Locali). All residents and legal foreign nationals are covered.

System Type: Universal single-payer (Beveridge model, regionally administered)
Regulatory Body: AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco) for drugs; Ministero della Salute for overall healthcare regulation; ISS (Istituto Superiore di Sanità) for public health
Data Protection: GDPR (EU Regulation 2016/679) + D.Lgs. 196/2003 (Codice in materia di protezione dei dati personali, as amended by D.Lgs. 101/2018). Garante per la protezione dei dati personali is the supervisory authority.
Currency: EUR
Emergency Number: 118
Languages: it

Coding Systems

diagnosis

ICD-10 (WHO, Italian translation) + ICD-9-CM (Italian version for DRG)

ICD-10 WHO version (Italian translation by ISTAT) for mortality and some clinical coding. ICD-9-CM (Italian modification, version 2007) still legally mandated for hospital discharge records (SDO) and DRG assignment under D.M. 26/07/1993. Italy is one of the last countries still using ICD-9-CM for procedure coding.

dental

FDI (ISO 3950)

Federation Dentaire Internationale two-digit notation

procedures

ICD-9-CM (Italian version 2007)

ICD-9-CM procedure codes (Italian modification) remain the official procedure classification for hospital discharge records (SDO). Italy has not yet transitioned to ICD-10-PCS or any equivalent. This is unique among major Western nations in 2026.

dental Procedures

Nomenclatore tariffario regionale

No unified national dental procedure code system. Each region defines dental procedure nomenclature and tariffs within LEA guidelines. Dental procedures are described by nomenclatore tariffario entries rather than standardized codes.

drugs

AIC

Autorizzazione all'Immissione in Commercio — 9-digit marketing authorization code issued by AIFA (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco) uniquely identifying each pharmaceutical package.

Translation Corridors

RO→IT (Romanian community in Italy — Romanian records for SSN) AL→IT (Albanian community) MA→IT (Moroccan community) IT→DE (Italians in Germany — Italian records for German GKV) IT→CH (Italian cross-border workers in Switzerland — ~80K frontalieri) IT→US (Italian-Americans with Italian records) IT→GB (Italians in UK pre/post-Brexit)

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